Starting Over Again
by rosegoldfocus
Summary: "You don't just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?" TW: Abuse (C)
1. Prologue

**1\. Prologue**

 _"You don't just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?_ "

* * *

"Where is she?" Riley asked as she looked at her two friends. "This isn't like her to just disappear without any warning."

The two exchanged a glance before Farkle stood and grabbed Riley's arm, "I'm sure she just forgot to tell you that she wasn't coming in today. It's probably nothing." He knew, however, that his attempts were doing little to calm the girl down.

"No," She objected. "There's something more to this. She didn't turn up this morning at my house like she normally does. She never misses it without a good reason. And she _always_ tells me why."

The bell rang, echoing over the chattering students, telling them to get back to classes. Neither Lucas, Farkle or Riley moved at the first bell, the boys seeming to have a conversation between themselves while Riley stared hard at the floor.

Finally, the warning bell echoed overhead and without a word, Riley stood, slung her bag onto her back and walked away with the other two following.

* * *

The Matthews family sat around the dinner table that evening eating in silence. It was a Wednesday and on Wednesday, Maya always ate with them, that had been the tradition since they were seven years old.

"Where is Maya tonight, Riley?" Topanga asked, trying to stir up a conversation, "She's always here."

Stabbing a baby carrot with her fork, Riley shrugged, "She didn't come to school today and she's not picking up her phone or answering her texts. Your guess would be as good as mine."

Cory, who had been sat at the head of the table silently eating, spoke up, "About Maya." He caught the attention of the table, who turned towards him. "I went down to the office at lunch time to find out where Maya was and… I don't know how to put this but, Riley, Ms Hart pulled Maya out of the school yesterday."

Riley just stared blankly at him for a few moments before, "She can't do that, can she?"

Cory nodded, "Unfortunately, she can. Katy is Maya's mother, she has custody over Maya and she can do as she wishes, within reason of course."

"May I be excused?" Riley asked. The food on her plate didn't look too appealing to her sick stomach now and she just wanted to lay down.

Topanga noticed her daughter's expression and nodded, "Of course, you can have the rest later if you feel like it."

Riley didn't reply, focused on making it to her bedroom for the time being. Despite what she originally wanted to do, she changed her route and directed herself over to the bay window and sat down. The day had begun to turn into the night and all the street lights were beginning to switch on.

But Riley couldn't focus on that. Instead, she was too focused on wondering where Maya had disappeared to and why she didn't tell her she was leaving.

* * *

 **As this is the prologue, this chapter is going to be a little shorter than what I'd normally write (1000+ words). Also, I'm fairly new to** _ **Girl Meets World**_ **, but I really enjoyed the show and wanted to test the waters in the fanfic side of things. I probably will get a few details wrong here and there in the beginning but hopefully, someone would be kind enough to point me in the correct direction. I'm not too sure if I'm going to keep going with this story, I haven't decided yet. Anyway, if you enjoyed, I would really appreciate it if you could leave me a little review/favourite/follow. Thank you :)**


	2. New Student

**2\. New Student**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Maya had left their lives without warning two years ago when they were freshmen in high school. Now they were Juniors and still hadn't heard much from the blonde. And by 'much', I mean nothing.

Riley had given up hope of any news from Maya at the sixteen-month mark. Two days after she had left, the phone was disconnected. Although there was no direct way of contacting her best friend, her sister, Riley just hoped that she would get in contact with her. Even if it was a letter, she didn't care. She just wanted to know that Maya was _okay_.

But none of that ever came and Riley was left with her imagination to figure out where Maya had disappeared to. Yet every scenario she could come up with came to dead ends.

Of course, she wasn't the only one to notice the changes coming from the absent blonde. Lucas and Farkle had noted the fact that Rileytown had seemed to fade into nothing. Without Maya there to help protect the little town from reality, it was slowly broken down into little pieces and Riley was forced to face the truth about the world around her. She had been forced to grow up a little more and take on the world without her best friend.

Neither boy could figure out where Maya had gone, either. One day, about a week after Riley told them what Ms Hart had done, they had decided to go over to Maya's old apartment.

The first thing they tried to do was use the door handle to get in. A simple idea and more than likely to fail but when the pressure was added to the rusty handle and it was pushed down, the old, creaky door swung open.

Exchanging concerned glances, the two carefully entered the apartment on high alert.

Everything that the Hart's had owned was left in the apartment. In fact, it was as if they hadn't bothered to grab anything they had owned like they had to get out as soon as they could. Several pieces of furniture had been trashed, and what was highly alarming was the blood stain that had dried onto the flimsy tiled kitchen floor.

Avoiding any broken glass that was scattered across the floor – from what they didn't know – the pair moved over to Maya's old bedroom door. It was swung open haphazardly, allowing them a view of the room.

It was small, but it had always been along with the rest of the apartment. But Maya's possessions had been strewn across the bedroom. Different items of clothing had been chucked as if she had been searching through them without much care. The normally neatly organised piles of art supplies that sat in the corner was now jumbled together. Lucas took note that several sketch books were missing along with a small pencil case that was normally filled with normal sketching and colouring pencils she kept.

But what caught his eye was the photo frame that had fallen from the shelf. The glass covering it was shattered into hundreds of small shards but the picture inside was recognisable underneath. The picture had been taken the night of their middle school graduation only months before. Everyone was all happy smiles as Mrs Matthews took the picture.

"Something isn't right," Farkle pointed out the obvious. The pair had left the small apartment and made their way back to Farkle's rather large penthouse.

Lucas just shot him a look in return, "Yeah, no kidding. That place was a mess. It looks like someone trashed the place."

"And the stain on the floor," Farkle shuddered at the memory. "What if that was Maya's blood?"

"I don't know, I really don't," He was at a dead end. What they had seen that day was something else. Lucas didn't have a clue what had happened to Maya, but something deep down was telling him that Ms Hart hadn't just decided to move one day. Nothing would add up for that to happen. And the state the apartment was left in set off alarm bells.

"What if someone took them?"

He turned to face the other boy, "No, I don't think that's what happened. Remember in Maya's room? It looked like she had been through her stuff and grabbed a few things before she left."

Farkle just nodded in agreement and the two settled into an uneasy silence as they thought.

Lucas was the first to break the silence. "We cannot tell Riley anything about that apartment, nothing about what we know, Farkle," He told him, his tone telling Farkle not to argue. "If she knew that something had happened to Maya before she disappeared, it would kill her with worry. We can't afford to lose the Riley we know."

Farkle had agreed instantly. They had lost one of their best friends, they couldn't lose their only other friend.

That had been two years ago. And to that day, they still hadn't told Riley what had happened. When she had suggested that they go and check out the apartment, they had quickly jumped, coming up with an excuse that they had already tried it but the place had been sold on when in reality it was in the same state that they had seen left it in not too long ago.

* * *

First period had dragged by with seconds seeming like hours. At the beginning of their sophomore year, Mr Matthews had rearranged the classroom, claiming that 'everyone needed a change'. But as he was doing so, when he called out the name of the student who was to be filling Maya's old seat, he couldn't help but notice the look his daughter had sent at the seat. He could only guess what she had been thinking.

Still to that day, they hadn't changed seats. Lucas sat in the back of the classroom, Riley in the middle and Farkle taking the seat near the door. As time passed, their friendship had begun to crack and fall apart.

Farkle and Lucas were still somewhat close, but Riley had distanced herself from the pair. It had started out with not hanging out with each other anymore, progressing to only saying 'Hi' in the hallways and finally, not even acknowledging each other.

Riley had eventually found herself a new group of friends. She had somehow worked her way into the group of cheerleaders, even though she wasn't really one anymore. Sure, in eighth grade she had managed to wiggle her way onto the team but in freshman year, she hadn't joined again.

But because she knew some of the girls on the team, when Maya had left, they had taken her under their wing and let her hang out with them. They were never as close as the original group were, but it would have to do. It could have been worse and she could have been alone by herself, yet she wasn't.

Half way through the history lesson that morning, there was a sharp knock at the door and a teacher entered. She made a bee-line towards Mr Matthews' desk and handed him a slip of green paper.

Cory scanned the paper quickly before glancing up at the class. His eye's flicked between the three old friends scattered around the room before he nodded, "Sure, bring her in." Cory then turned to the rest of the class, "We have a new student starting today. Some of you may remember her from freshman year and middle school."

The female teacher that had entered the room and disappeared back out the door and returned with a much smaller girl following. She stepped aside, revealing a girl with messy blonde curls and blue eyes, dressed in a simple, older looking shirt, a flannel over the top and black tattered jeans with worn looking boots, "Everyone, this is Maya Hart and she'll be joining your class this year."

* * *

 **I seemed to have had a nice response to this story so I'll keep going for now. But once again, nothing's solidified. I wanted this to be longer and I don't think I like the way that this chapter turned out but it'll do I suppose. People have been questioning if this will have a ship in it, personally, I ship Lucaya and if this does turn into a ship, then it'll more than likely be those two but I might just keep it ship-neutral. Let me know what you want me to do. P.S. I love reading your reviews *wink* *wink***


	3. Something's Wrong With Maya

**3\. Something's Wrong With Maya**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

The room that was already silent somehow managed to become quieter. Eyes were on either Lucas, Farkle, Riley or Maya, waiting for any form of reaction.

Maya quickly glanced up at her old friends, quickly darting her eyes back to the floor to avoid the looks. Her arms came to wrap around her waist as if she was blocking out the others in the classroom.

Cory seemed to study her for a moment, trying to figure something out but shook his head, "Welcome back, Miss Hart. There's a seat next to Riley you may take."

At the mention of her old best friend's name, Maya's head shot back up. Cory couldn't exactly tell what the other was thinking but just watched as she nodded and made her way to the seat, avoiding all eye contact with anyone.

She dropped her battered backpack onto the table with a thump and sat, digging through to find what supplies she could. For some reason, she didn't seem to have as many items as the rest of the people in the class.

The teacher that had brought Maya into the room turned and left, leaving Cory to get back to his teaching. Throughout the rest of the class, Maya didn't once raise her head from her notebook, constantly writing down notes. That seemed to shock Cory, since the Maya he knew wouldn't be doing such a thing, relying on Riley to have notes for her to study from.

Riley, on the other hand, couldn't focus on the lesson. She couldn't help the glances she shot at Maya every few minutes and although her pen was poised in her hand, ready to write, nothing was going down.

Cory had just finished assigning that night's homework when the bell rang. Packing her stuff slowly, as if she was in pain, Maya rose and left the room quietly. Riley, who was yet to move, sat and watched her do so.

* * *

A tray dropped opposite the pair onto the lunch table and upon glancing up, Riley stood in front of them, "Can I sit here?"

"Uh, sure," Farkle hesitated, but only because Riley rarely spoke to them anymore. "What about your cheerleading friends?"

"Well, I wouldn't call us _friends_ ," She told them as she pulled the chair out and placed her bag on the floor. "Maybe acquaintances."

There was an awkward silence before Lucas broke it, "So, Maya's back."

It was the thing that had been on everyone's minds since the blonde walked into history during first period, yet they hadn't seen each other to talk about it. Glancing around the cafeteria and not seeing the blonde, Riley replied, "Yeah."

"Did she seem different to you?" Farkle asked, glancing between the pair for an answer.

"Well, after two years people do tend to change," Riley replied bitterly as she stabbed at a piece of meat. Lucas and Farkle exchanged a look at the sudden attitude change.

Lucas pulled a face, "Something didn't seem right about her."

Raising an eyebrow at him, she asked, "How so?"

"Just…" He pushed some mashed potato around his plate. "Something wasn't right with her. The Maya we knew was happy and somewhat smiley. This one is sad and quiet."

"In art today we were free to draw what we wanted," Farkle piped up. "I was on the next desk over from hers and she just painted a dark room. It was quite creepy, honestly."

"You're probably looking way too into it," Riley told them matter-of-factly before changing the subject. "What was my dad's homework? I, uh, I wasn't paying much attention."

* * *

The front door slammed behind Riley as she and Cory entered that night. Topanga, who was stood in the kitchen cooking dinner, turned to look at the pair. "What's wrong?" She asked, looking at her husband.

Cory didn't answer immediately, just watching as Riley silently trudged into her room, looking deep in thought. Finally turning back to Topanga, he answered, "She's back."

The latter seemed to understand instantly, her eyes widening a little in shock, "She's really back. You're positive?"

"How can I not be positive that it's Maya?" Cory snapped back before closing his eyes and sighing. "I'm sorry, but when Maya came back in this morning to history, Riley just seemed to stop paying attention. I don't know about the rest of her classes but I can only assume they were similar. Her return has really seemed to throw her off guard."

Topanga paused for a moment to think of what she was going to say next, "Did Maya say where she had been these last two years?"

Stepping around her, Cory sat on the couch and threw his head back before sitting straighter, "Something doesn't seem quite right about her."

"How so?"

"I can't put my finger on it," Cory told her honestly. "She was quiet. And she threw herself into note taking."

"Maybe she just wanted to learn something?" Topanga suggested.

It was a complete possibility, Cory thought to himself, but it wasn't the answer, "Possibly," He answered instead, keeping his thoughts to himself. Something wasn't right and Cory intended to find out what was happening with his second daughter.

* * *

Riley was perched in the bay window. The moment she sat there, she was hit with the past memories she had done so well to bury. In fact, she had almost managed to completely bury the memory of Maya, and she probably would have been successful in doing so if she hadn't had turned up that day.

Tucked away in a corner of one of her shelves was a worn and tattered picture frame. Inside was her and Maya sat next to each other, arms wound tightly around the other. Their smiles couldn't have been bigger and their eyes were shining with youthful glee. That was one of Riley's favourite pictures of the pair but a month after Maya left, she had hidden it out of sight.

All she wanted to do was go back to the time the pair were eight years old and just discovering the world. Now, at age seventeen, things were a lot more complicated than she could have ever imagined.

A single tear escaped her barrier, slowly trickling down her cheek and dropping off her chin, landing on her hand, "Why now? Why are you back, Maya?"

* * *

 **Again, I'm not too sure if I like this chapter, but you're the judges of that, aren't you? Thank you for 800+ reads on the last two chapters! Also, thank you for your reviews/follows/favourites! Are you looking forward to the new episode of GMW tonight (and Sabrina's movie) because I know that I defiantly am :D**


	4. Maya's Home Life

**4\. Maya's Home Life**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Her first day back at her old high school had been torture. There was no way for her to avoid the stares from everyone, whether she knew them before hand or not. But that's what you got for being a new student.

The looks that bothered her the most came from her old friends and teacher. There were many times throughout the day where Maya thought that they could see straight through her no matter how hard she tried to cover it up.

Maya was currently sat in the corner of her bed, trying to focus on the history assignment that Mr Matthews had set the previous night. She already found history somewhat difficult but coming in halfway through the year had thrown her off and she was relying heavily on the textbook perched beside her.

Her progress was cut off by a call from the main room, "Maya!" The voice was enough to cause an involuntary shudder to make its way down her spine.

Ever so carefully, she stood from her bed and quietly walked out of the room, down the short hallway and into the main room. Sprawled across the couch was Wyatt, her mother's boyfriend of two years.

At first, he was kind, buying all sorts of presents for her mother and occasionally for Maya herself. He had a lot of money going for him (and Maya swears that that was one of the main reasons her mother went for him).

But then he had a job transfer which took them all the way across the country away from everything that she had always known. Just before they had moved, Katy and Wyatt had gotten into an argument about moving, Katy not wanting to do so for Maya's sake, the apartment had been trashed to pieces by him. Occasionally before that he had hit Katy if something hadn't been done the way he wanted but that night he snapped and threw a picture frame at her, causing it to scratch the side of her face before pushing her to the floor. He had then stormed into Maya's room and told her that they were leaving that night – no arguments. And just like that, they were gone.

Throughout their time in Seattle, Wyatt had been getting drunk before coming home and beating Maya behind her mother's back since Katy was at work trying to keep up with the bills etc.

When Katy had found out what he was doing again, Wyatt had turned on her as well. It began with a smack here and there but it progressed to much worse beatings if he was in a bad mood that day. It had gotten to the point where Wyatt had given up on a job hunt and taken residences on their couch. Katy hadn't been able to support the three of them on her low-paying job in Seattle and they had been forced to move back into their old apartment in New York.

It had taken a lot of scrubbing to get the blood stain out of the carpet and Maya had nearly given up with it if it wasn't Wyatt's threat to severely hurt her if she didn't get it out.

The place looked a lot better than when they had suddenly left it two years ago, but it was just filled with dark memories for her and she could never call the place home again.

"Maya," The voice broke her out of her thoughts once more and she could see Wyatt in front of her getting more and more annoyed by the second. A sharp sting suddenly sprung to her face and Maya couldn't help recoil a little. "Go and get the paper from the store and make it quick."

Even though it was nearly nine at night and dangerous for a girl her age to go out in her neighbourhood alone, Wyatt didn't care and the consequences of her not going would probably kill her. She would be lying if she didn't hope one day it would.

Grabbing a jacket from her room, she pulled the hood over her face to hide the bruise forming and collected the change on the counter to by the paper. The store was a good ten-minute walk away from her apartment but it gave her enough time to think about a few things.

She knew that she would have to use cover-up in the morning to hide the dark bruise on her face. Maya couldn't help but wonder if anyone would notice how she walked in pain constantly or that she had a little extra make-up on that day.

Somehow, over the two years, she was there, not one person in Seattle noticed her pain, and if they did, they never said anything to her. She had spent many nights curled up in a ball, crying herself to sleep as she avoided Wyatt's drunken state.

Placing the change onto the counter, Maya picked up the newspaper and tucked it under her arm, "Have a nice night," She offered to the man behind the counter who smiled back at her. She remembered him from when she lived in New York the first time but she doubted that he even remembered her.

When she got back to the apartment, Wyatt was passed out in the same position as she had left him. Placing the paper down next to him, she made her way back into her room to survey the damage he had done that night. Maya had to admit that it could have been a lot worse than it was.

* * *

"Miss Hart? Are you there?" A voice from in front of her called out before a hand obstructed her vision. The hand in front of her caused her to involuntarily flinch back in her seat. Nobody seemed to notice the small movement apart from Mr Matthews who narrowed his eyes slightly, "Are you okay?"

She offered him a small fake smile, "I'm always okay, sir." She told him and watched his suspicion fade a little but not completely.

Cory nodded at her, "Then did you do your homework?"

Maya cursed internally. She had been exhausted when she had gotten back from the shop last night and had fallen asleep almost as soon as she had gotten into her room. "No, sir, I didn't," Her voice was much quieter this time as she looked down at the desk.

"Well, since you only came back to this school recently, I'll give you an extension, due Monday," Cory told her and Maya looked up shocked. He had never done that before. Cory also added, "If you need any help with it then come and see me and we'll sort something out."

All she could do was nod mutely as Cory moved onto another student.

* * *

 **I never seem to write much dialogue in these chapters but I'm going to try and work on it! Thank you for 2K reads :) Is anyone else annoyed at Girl Meets Triangle? Like Maya's getting good grades now and they're telling her to change, I mean, yeah she shouldn't want to be Riley bc we love our little Maya but there's nothing wrong with her good grades? But I LOVED AIB!**


	5. Noticing

**5\. Noticing**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Maya shuffled from foot to foot as she stood outside the familiar wooden brown door. She remembered the days when she used to just barge in without much care in the world but now she didn't think the Matthews would appreciate that.

The door swung open and Maya was greeted by the face of Topanga Matthews. The older woman looked down at her, surprised for a moment, but that quickly faded. She offered her a smile as she opened the door wider, "Maya, hi, come in."

Hesitantly, Maya entered the apartment and glanced around for any changes. There were a few extra changes here and there but nothing too big.

"Make yourself at home, Cory will be out in just a minute," Topanga offered the blonde who nodded and silently made her way to the kitchen table. "So, how have you been?"

"I've been okay," Maya offered in reply as she set her notebook and textbook down on the table and took a seat. "How have you been, Mrs Matthews?"

Picking up her mug that she had previously been drinking from, she replied with, "Good, work is going steady, a constant stream of people who need lawyers and all that."

The two lapsed into silence as Maya picked at the edge of her notebook and Topanga went back to typing on her laptop. The only sound filling the room was the keyboard clicks as Topanga was working on something for a case but they abruptly stopped. Hearing the noise cease, Maya looked up at the other woman with a questioning gaze.

Topanga was looking straight back at her, looking as if she wanted to say something before finally deciding to go for it, "Maya, can I ask where you've been for the last two years?"

Maya swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling dry. "My mother's boyfriend, Wyatt? You remember him, right?" She asked and Topanga nodded, she did remember him but she couldn't quite say that she liked the man. "He, um, he had a job transfer to Seattle. It was such a sudden thing that I couldn't tell anyone and then I left my phone in the old apartment so I had no way of contacting anyone back home."

Lies. Well, the part about her phone. She had had that with her and she listened to all the voicemails left by her friends and read all the texts they had sent her, asking where she was. Yet she couldn't bring herself to respond to them.

She could see Topanga going to open her mouth to ask her another question, probably about why she didn't find a way to contact them when Cory came back into the room, interrupting her, "Hi Maya, do you want to get started on this assignment then?"

"Uh, sure," Topanga picked up on the fact that Maya seemed to be nervous as Cory stepped closer to her and even scooted along the bench to try and put some distance between them. She was forced to sit closer than she would like to him when she had made it to the end of the bench. All this was very odd for Maya, well at least the old Maya they knew.

"Okay, so if you turn to page one hundred and forty, read that and anything you don't understand I'll explain to you," Cory instructed and Maya complied as Topanga drowned them out and went back to typing.

* * *

Two hours of continuous work had passed by and they had, together, almost managed to complete the assignment. "That should be everything you need to know to complete the last few bits of this on your own, will you be okay doing that?"

"Yeah, I should be able to," Maya nodded at him. She had seemed to become a little more comfortable around the Matthews as the time passed. Auggie had come in at one point to have a nose around at what was going on and upon seeing Maya, he lit up and skipped over to her, "Maya!"

"Hey, Auggie," She had offered him a small smile before Cory had sent him back to his room with a cookie to keep him satisfied until dinner.

Riley, however, hadn't come in and Topanga had explained that she was with Farkle, Lucas, Smackle and Zay at the movies and then they had gone out for food after that (Maya wouldn't admit out loud but not being involved in her old friendship group had kind of stung a little, even if they weren't _really_ friends anymore).

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Topanga offered. It _did_ sound like a good idea. She would be getting a proper meal for once because that was something that rarely happened.

But when she looked up at the clock on the wall and saw the time, her eyes grew wider, "I would love to, but I really must be going." She told them as she stood and gathered her items rather fast and careless manner. At the questioning looks from both Matthews, Maya explained further, "I promised Wyatt that I'd help him out tonight."

Shoving her stuff into her bag, she dashed towards the door and flung it open to see a startled Riley on the other side. The two froze in their movements, neither knowing quite what to do. Maya tried avoiding looking at Riley all together while Riley stayed frozen in the same spot.

Remembering that she had to be home, Maya tried squeezing around Riley and dashed down the hallway to the elevator.

Riley, on the other hand, just entered into the apartment, closing the door behind her with a click. Mumbling a 'Hi Mom, Hi Dad' she made her way into her bedroom quietly and shut the door, seemingly shaken up by the brief encounter with Maya.

* * *

Topanga looked over at her husband, wondering if he had seen the same thing she had. But upon looking at Cory, she saw that he was looking in the direction Riley had just gone. He probably wouldn't have noticed it anyway, but she did and she was almost positive that she wasn't seeing things.

When Maya had reached across the table for her pencil case, her sleeve had raised slightly, giving Topanga a clear view of her wrist.

The skin was a dark, angry purple, clear signs of a bruise that was probably no older than two days. But Maya's wrists also seemed to be smaller than she remembered, a lot small in fact.

Topanga had an idea of what it was, but she wasn't about to start throwing accusations around. She needed proof first.

But she also needed to protect Maya.

* * *

 **Hey, hey, hey! Sorry for not updating in a few days but I had prom Friday and was in work Saturday and hey-ho it's Sunday now. What did you think of this chapter? I actually am satisfied with it. A lot more dialogue in it. Remember how I said that I wasn't sure if I was going to keep writing this story? Well, if you look at my page, you'll see that this story is now on my list of 'stories' meaning it's continuing! I don't know if any of you are happy about that or not (hopefully, you are). Alright, I'm going to answer some reviews that were left for me on the last few chapters!**

 **Guest4783; I don't mind you leaving your reviews! In fact, I love reading them, you take the time to read a chapter and then write a decently long review, who wouldn't mind that on their story! So thank you :) I was totally screaming at the end of Girl Meets Triangle and I was so glad my parents stayed out overnight, they'd probably think I was being murdered or something haha**

 **Jaleftwich; I adored AIB! It was one of the best Disney channel movies I've seen in a long time, and I don't watch many DCO movies because none of them interest me that much. Also, I'm a Lucaya shipper but I wouldn't mind if Rucas was endgame. I do ship Riarkle, Faya too (I believe those are the ship names), I don't really do joshaya though.**

 **That's all that I'm going to answer today, but if you want to ask me anything, leave it in a review for me and I'll try to get around to it :)**


	6. PE Class

**6\. PE Class**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

"Congrats, Ms Hart, a B," Cory dropped Maya's paper on the desk in front of her.

"Riley, a C," He moved over to his daughter's desk and sent her a look that told her they would be talking about the grade when they got home.

Riley, however, decided to speak up, "That's not fair, though!" She protested. "You helped Maya with her homework so of course she's going to get a higher grade."

Cory just stared at his daughter for a moment, watching out of the corner of his eye as Maya's smile faded and she dropped her head to the desk, letting her hair cover her face. "That is enough, Riley," His voice was stern and commanding, warning her to not continue with her protest. "I only helped explain the work to Maya that she didn't understand. Ms Hart completed the assignment by herself. If you wish to continue this discussion later on, we may do so but until then, I suggest you leave the conversation alone."

As Cory moved on to the next student, Riley was left in shock. She hadn't expected her father to be so forward in protecting Maya. She didn't know what was wrong with her lately. She seemed to have this pent up anger towards Maya and she knew that one day it was all going to come out if she didn't get rid of it in a healthy way. Riley could already see it seeping out and she couldn't do anything to control it.

* * *

PE class came around and that was the one class that the four ex-friends had together.

It was close to eighty outside and most of the class was in shorts and t-shirts (and some were pushing the school's boundaries for the dress code).

So when Maya stepped out of the changing room with leggings and a zip-up jacket on, the whole class looked at her. "Maya, don't you want to take that jacket off and change into shorts?"

The girl in question just pulled her sleeves down to cover her hands more and shook her head, "No, I'm okay like this."

"Are you sure?" The teacher raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't want you passing out on me today."

"Mhm," She hummed in reply. The truth was she felt like she was melting in her clothes. Oh, how she wished that she could just be in shorts and t-shirts like the rest of the class but it would never work out. Wyatt had hit her several times last night in the arms and abdomen, leaving nice fresh bruises littering her skin.

The teacher just sighed in defeat, "Alright then class, we're running a mile today, so yes, that's four times around the track." When the class groaned, the teacher barked out, "Get to it."

Slowly, the class took off on their four laps. Eventually, people began to find their speed, the athletic people picking up their pace and taking to the front of the track while the not so athletic people began to slip behind.

Riley and Lucas were both towards the front of the group but Farkle wasn't as fast as them and began to lag behind. Maya, being much weaker than she was the last time she had done the four laps in freshman year, could feel her energy draining as she tried to pull through.

Farkle picked up his pace to match Maya's before slowing to a jog next to her, "Are you alright?" The more he looked at the blonde, the paler he could see her getting.

Maya seemed to startle a little and glanced to her left to look at the boy. He had changed a lot since she had last truly seen him. He was taller now, that was for sure and it made her feel just that little bit smaller. Farkle had also gained some muscle over the past two years, not as much as Lucas but just enough to make it noticeable.

"Maya?" She could hear him asking again and she realised that she must have zoned out on him for a moment.

"Yeah, I'm okay," She replied and she was almost positive that he didn't believe her, especially when he narrowed his eyes at her, looking for something.

Farkle just turned back to look ahead once more, keeping is eyes on the track in front of him, "I'm not sure you are."

"Trust me, I'm _always_ okay," When would Maya stop telling these lies? She was the complete opposite of that. She was never okay. She could only assume that she would stop telling the same lie over and over when she was finally dead after Wyatt killed her. As horrible as it sounded, she would welcome that day with open arms because she couldn't take much more of the constant abuse.

And that was the end of that conversation. Farkle just seemed to drift away from her a little bit but not a lot, still close enough that he could start a conversation if he really wanted to.

By the time they were halfway through the second lap, Maya had begun to feel light headed and cursed herself for not stopping at the shop on the way to school to pick up something like a cereal bar. They didn't have enough money to have a constant three meals a day system and she knew she would be lucky if she even got one meal in a day.

That had always been a problem, even before Wyatt. Katy had always been struggling to pay the rent and keep on top of bills that sometimes food wasn't an option for them. That's why she was reliant on the Matthews to help keep Maya fed when she couldn't.

But now, with Katy working extra shifts to keep on top of everything along with Wyatt's drinking problem, she could barely scrape together any food money whatsoever. She tried to secretly slip some money to her daughter before she went to school so that she could stop off and maybe grab something from the store on her way to school but that morning, Katy had been gone when Maya left, leaving no money in case Wyatt found it.

Her vision began to become spotty and her breathing increased, alerting Farkle that something was wrong. He stopped in his jog and turned to look at Maya, who was bent over slightly and gasping. He took a few steps back towards her and asked if she was alright again.

This time, he didn't get an answer, instead, he had to dash forward to stop Maya from hitting the spongy floor of the track as she passed out.

* * *

 **New chapter, a new chapter, a new chapter! I hope I'm doing this story justice since it is such a touchy thing to write about but from the reviews I get, I think I can believe I am doing okay with it. This time, we get to see a little bit of angry Riley and we may find out why soon but also we get to see a little Farkle interaction with Maya. I think Farkle is the first person to talk to Maya out of the three of them so far in this story, I can't really remember, if I'm wrong, correct me. Thank you all for your lovely reviews on the last five chapters :) We have over 50 followers on this story which I think is insane so thank you for that too! If you could, let me know what you think of this story in a review below and I'll read every single one and maybe reply to a few in my next chapter :)**


	7. Nurses Office

**7\. Nurses Office**

" _You don't get to disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

"MAYA!" Farkle called out as she grabbed the blonde before she hit the floor.

His cry caught the attention of the majority of the class, including Lucas, Riley and the teacher. The teacher jogged over to where Farkle was lowering Maya to the floor. The rest of the class seemed to follow him over and crowded around them.

Mr Bennet placed a hand on her forehead, "She doesn't seem to be running much of a fever. She does feel a little warm but that's probably because of the running. Farkle, take Maya to the office, the rest of you, back to your laps."

Farkle looked down on the blonde who, in her unconscious state, looked a lot more at peace than when she was awake. He bent down to scoop the girl back up into his arms but frowned when he felt how light she was. Just before he left, he called over to Mr Bennet, "Sir, can someone come with me? You know, to open doors and stuff?"

With a sigh, the teacher nodded, Lucas, go with him please," Lucas made his way over to where Farkle stood. Before either could leave, Mr Bennet added, "Come straight back, no faffing about."

The journey to the nurse's office was silent apart from when the boys switched Maya over. It wasn't due to her weight, but simply the fact that carrying her was more awkward for Farkle than it would be Lucas.

"She feels too light," Lucas frowned in a manner much like Farkle did when he first felt her weight.

Pushing open another double door, Farkle replied with, "I know. It can't be right."

"You don't think…" Lucas trailed off, not wanting to actually say it but knew that it was a possibility. Could Maya actually be doing that to herself? Surely not, she knew how dangerous it was. When they had a mental health day back in freshman year, he remembered her adamantly saying that she would never do something like that.

"I really don't know, Lucas, I really don't," Farkle still wouldn't turn to look at him and continued walking forwards. "We don't know anything about this new Maya."

The next words out of Lucas' mouth were muttered under her breath, "That's what I'm so worried about."

* * *

The last thing Maya remembered was darkness and Farkle calling her name. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that she was lying on the bed in the nurse's office, staring up at the white ceiling.

"Ah, you're awake," A voice from her right spoke and she turned to see a woman she didn't know the name of. "Now that you're awake, we can discuss what happened."

"What – What do you mean?" Maya asked nervously. Did she know something she wasn't supposed to? A quick glance told her that she was still in the exact same kit she was in during PE class. "What time is it?"

The nurse turned around to grab something – probably a clipboard – while she answered, "It's currently 12:15 so you should be going to fourth period right now. And as to what happened, you fainted during PE class doing laps. Your temperature is a little high, but what is most concerning is your weight."

Maya stiffened where she lay and closed her eyes slowly, breathing out. This was it, she knew and her life would be over. Word would get around and – _No, stop it. You don't know what she knows yet._

"Maya," The nurse said and the blonde turned her head to look at the older woman. "I want you to be honest, have you been not eating?"

She could lie and say that she had been, but she had been busy lately and hadn't kept track of everything or she could come out and tell the truth about her life. Maya didn't feel like dealing with the consequences of option b. "I've been super busy lately," She lied straight through her teeth. "I guess I haven't been keeping track of how much I eat. I didn't mean to not eat, it just slipped my mind, promise. I was in a rush this morning and forgot to eat something, probably why I fainted in class."

For a moment, when the nurse narrowed her eyes at her, Maya thought that she wouldn't believe a word out of her mouth but when she slowly jotted down some notes onto her board, she realised that maybe she could get away with it. "Hmm, if you say so. I want to send you home for the rest of the day. I've tried contacting your mother but she didn't pick up so I went to your emergency contact."

 _Not Wyatt, anyone but Wyatt,_ she silently chanted over and over in her mind. She couldn't take him much more. If he ended up picking her up from school, Maya knew that he would beat her because she disturbed his day.

Her worries were put to rest when the intercom in the room buzzed and the voice of the receptionist came through, " _Mrs Matthews is here for you."_

Maya's eyes widened as the nurse replied, telling her to let her through. When she turned back to the blonde, Maya asked, "Mrs Matthews? You called Mrs Matthews?"

"Yes," The nurse replied slowly. "She was listed as your contact." Maya just nodded mutely as she waited for Topanga to show up. This was going to be an awkward experience and she knew it.

Finally, Topanga emerged in the doorway and looked straight over at Maya. The blonde was paler than usual and seemed to be sweating slightly, probably due to the heat of her clothes. "Hi, I'm collecting Maya?"

The pair exchanged a few words which Maya tuned out but was quickly snapped back by a hand being placed onto one of her bruises. She hissed slightly from the pain and Topanga, hearing this, made a mental note to ask Maya about it later on.

"Come on, let's go home and get some food into you and maybe you can sleep?" Topanga suggested, helping the younger girl stand. "Do you want to go grab stuff from your locker first before we go? If not, I can get Riley to pick it up for you?"

"Uh, no, no, it's probably better if I got it myself," She denied the offer. "Makes it easier on everyone."

"If you say so."

* * *

 **I feel kinda poopy today but I'm still gonna post this okay chapter for you. You guys are really loving this story so far and I'm glad my efforts aren't going to waste :) Topanga is becoming** _ **very**_ **suspicious of Maya right now so will she find out the truth soon? Let me know what you think!**


	8. Confronting Maya

**8\. Confronting Maya**

" _You don't just get to disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Topanga stood against the kitchen sink, just watching the blonde girl that was sat at her table. When they had gotten back from the school, she had made Maya a bowl of soup and then had stepped back to watch her devour the bowl as if she hadn't been fed in a while.

She narrowed her eyes in confusion when Maya almost looked disappointed at the fact that the bowl was empty and decided to speak up, "Is everything okay?"

Maya, who hadn't been paying too much attention to her surroundings, looked up and Topanga with wide eyes, forgetting the older woman was there. As she looked up, Topanga caught a glance of the fear in the younger girl's eyes and noted it. "Oh, yeah, it's just that the soup was so goodI didn't think I would drink it so fast," She replied, hoping her ex-best friend's mother would buy it.

Topanga grabbed the bowl from Maya and turned to wash it, "It's nothing special, just the store's brand version."

"Oh," Maya quickly tried to come up with something. "You'll have to let me know what store that is so I can get some myself," She forced a laugh and was glad that Topanga had her back turned towards her.

"Yeah," Was the reply from the older woman, distant as if she was thinking about something else. "If you want, you can go into Riley's room and take a nap."

"Thank you," Maya offered before she turned and made the familiar journey to the room.

Upon entering, she paused at the door to take in the room. The walls were the same blue that she last remembered and the bed hadn't changed. But the things she had displayed around the room on the walls and shelves had changed.

The pictures had been updated to more modern ones and the trinkets Riley had out were put away in favour of more grown-up items.

But the most important thing caught her eye. Still, in the exact same place as she had always remembered and always would be, was the bay window. She remembered how many times she had crawled through the thing since she became friends with Riley ten years prior.

Slowly Maya crept over to the old window and sat down in the spot that she used to always call hers. For a split second, she wondered if she had brought anyone else to the seat and had a heart to heart conversation with them before forcing the thought out of her mind. This used to be one of her safe spots and she couldn't let that idea be taken away from her now.

And as Maya sat there she could feel the old comfort returning. Yet just as she was beginning to feel safe once more, an old conversation came back to her.

" _Are we friends forever?"_

" _Whatever you want."_

Oh how innocent and naive they had been back then, thinking that they would be together forever yet they were seventeen and didn't even _talk_ anymore.

Just as the burning of tears started up in her eyes again, she got up and plopped herself down onto the bed in the centre of the room, before changing her mind, standing and pulling back the sheets to climb in.

Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light. It was the first time she could sleep without the worry of being woken by a drunken Wyatt coming into the room and attacking her when she was at her weakest.

* * *

The world around her was out of focus as she opened her eyes, blinking to try and make out the features of the room.

The first thing she noticed was that it was most defiantly _not_ her room. The walls were brightly coloured and not the usual dull, peeling white and the bed was actually comfortable and not lumpy.

A red flashing alarm clock told her that it was close to four in the afternoon and that Maya had only slept for about two hours yet she felt more awake than anything. But the clock also told her that Riley would be back home soon and Maya could only guess she wouldn't be too happy seeing her asleep in her bed.

Standing, she straightened her gym clothes (no, she hadn't changed out of those yet and she probably wouldn't until she got back to her house) and tried to fix her hair although she had to admit it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Finally, Maya built up the courage to go out into the main room to see Topanga sat on the couch watching a program.

Upon hearing the noise coming from the doorway, Topanga turned and looked at Maya. Taking a breath, she beckoned the blonde over. When Maya took a seat next to her, she studied the girl, checking for any visible marks.

Seeing none, she hesitantly spoke, "Maya, I need to talk to you. You need to be one hundred percent honest with me here…" Topanga trailed off before starting up again. "Is someone hurting you?"

Tensing at the question, Maya tried to avoid the truth, "No, Mrs Matthews, why would you think that?"

"Maya, don't lie to me," Her tone was as if she was talking to a child but at that moment, Maya _did_ feel like one. She wished she was a child again; life was so much simpler.

"I'm not," Was all she said and the intensity of Topanga's gaze was making her break. She couldn't even look at the older woman and instead chose to stare at her hands in her lap.

Before she could even think about what Topanga was doing, the latter grabbed Maya's arm and pushed up her sleeve a little revealing a dark bruise sitting on her wrist. Within a fraction of a second, the sleeve was yanked back down and covering her wrist, followed by being closely held against her to stop Topanga doing the same thing again.

The two sat in an awkward silence, Maya looking everywhere but Topanga and the latter staring at the blonde, tears building in her eyes.

"Maya," She tried to reach out to the girl but she had jumped out of the way, standing up and grabbing her previously abandoned backpack. "I should go."

With the recently found out news, Topanga stood up with her, "Maya please, I can help you-"

Making her way to the door, she turned, "No one can help me." And with that, she turned and left, brushing past Cory and Auggie as if they weren't there and continuing on without a second thought.

Only when she was in the elevator did she truly realise what was happening. Once the doors were shut, Maya sunk to the floor.

She had just pushed away the only help she was ever going to receive.

* * *

Cory entered the apartment with Auggie and saw Topanga standing there, the tears still in her eyes just watching the door.

Quickly, he sent Auggie to his room before walking up to his wife, letting her collapse onto him and begin sobbing. For a moment, he didn't know what to do before hugging her tightly and letting her sob out the events of the last fifteen minutes.

She finally ended her explanation on, "She lied to me, She's not okay."

* * *

 **I like this chapter; this is like a second time thing. You guys went nuts over** _ **Nurses Office**_ **honestly, 10 reviews compared to normal? Thank you! But you guys were so sweet, especially PinkHippos, Jaleftwich and Guest, thank you for your reviews :) I forgot to say this in the previous chapter but Happy (Late) 4** **th** **to my American readers. I'm not American but still, hope you had a good day! I'm just going to throw this out there now, but I am bracing myself for the next few chapters because I have a feeling I'm going to be hunted by** _ **a lot**_ **of people… What do you think that means? Girl Meets Upstate is out tomorrow, who's ready? Anyway, I'll see you guys whenever I update next (hopefully soon) :)**


	9. Run Away Child

**9\. Run Away Child**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Days had managed to make themselves into weeks and somehow, Maya had managed to almost completely avoid anyone with the Matthews' last name.

She hadn't been so lucky in avoiding Riley, Farkle, Lucas etc. but as far as she knew, they knew nothing that Topanga did.

Maya went out of her way to avoid Mr Matthews, however, because she knew Mrs Matthews had more than likely told him what she saw that night two weeks ago. That, of course, meant that she was having to go out of the way to avoid his classes. Every time she had a history period, she would hide in the toilets, under the stairs, in the fields, anywhere she could get herself into without being caught. She was desperate to avoid the class.

She knew that her grades were dropping horrifically but her life had taken the worst turn it ever had. Ever since Topanga had found out, it was like Wyatt had too and had been beating her with all his strength.

Her mother had been out working more, working desperately to try and get as much money as she could to pay for Wyatt's worsening addiction (she didn't want those consequences again) and the bills. This lead to eighteen-hour shifts some days and Maya being left to fend for herself.

Cory had tried endlessly to get Maya to talk to him but she would turn and walk back down the corridor, talk to another teacher, do anything to get away from him. He knew that leaving a child in a potentially dangerous situation was the worst thing he could do, but he and Topanga had decided that they wouldn't file anything until they knew for sure that Maya was being abused at home.

* * *

The day had been a painful one, to say the least. The constant pain she felt was enough to make anyone drop to the floor and cry, but it was also the concerned looks her old friends were giving her, even Riley.

She couldn't take it anymore. Maya was reaching her breaking point fast and she needed to get out as soon as she could.

Instead of walking home like she normally did, Maya made her way to the subway. She did not plan on going far but she knew exactly who she needed to go to.

Once seated on the train, she pulled out her shattered phone (another gift from Wyatt when he had found it the other day) and tried to make out the time in the top corner. Due to the fragments, she could only guess that it was around three-thirty.

Turning the phone off, she settled back into her seat and closed her eyes, breathing deeply before re-opening them, revealing her broken and damaged blue eyes.

Everything was about to come out.

* * *

"Matthews residence, Riley speaking, may I ask who this is?"

"Riley?" The voice of Katy Hart came through the phone. "It's me, Katy. Maya's mom. Is Maya there?"

Riley paused on the other end of the line, not sure why Katy was calling her. Didn't she know that Maya and she hadn't exactly reconnected as friends?

"Hello?" Katy's voice came again and she snapped out of it, "Sorry, no, Maya's not here? May I ask why?"

"Maya is not here."

Those three simple words managed to make Riley's heart skip a beat. What did she mean Maya wasn't there? Maya had been in school that day. Sure, she hadn't looked like she was in the best of states but she was there and then she went home like the rest of them. "What do you mean she's not there? I saw her leaving school earlier?"

"It means what it means," Katy's tone was sharp but Riley understood why. "Look, I'm sorry, but my daughter's not home like she should be and I don't know where she is. I'm worried about her."

"Let – let me call my mom a minute," Riley told her before removing the phone from her ear and covering the speaker, "Mom! Mom, come here, please!"

Within seconds, Topanga was in the main room and next to Riley, "What is it, sweetie?" She automatically began checking her daughter for any injury when Riley thrust the phone in her direction.

"Maya's gone missing, mom. It's her mom on the phone," Was all Riley told her before she went to sit on the couch. Topanga stood still for a moment, worry instantly coursing through her veins at the thought of the girl she used to think of as her second daughter.

"Katy, what's happened?"

"I - I don't know," The woman's voice sounded thick on the other end of the line and Topanga had a feeling she was about to start crying. "She just didn't come home last night and I don't know where she is."

"Okay, why don't you look around the places that you know Maya likes to hang around and see if she's there and Cory and I will drive around looking for her." On the other line, Katy agreed and just before they hung up, Topanga tried to reassure her one more time, "She'll be okay, I know she will."

* * *

Hours had passed and it was close to midnight by the time that Topanga and Cory pulled back up to their own apartment. Both them and Katy had found nothing in their search for Maya, deciding to (not willingly) go back home and sleep, and then to head back out the following day to look for the teen.

As they entered the apartment, the room was dark apart from the TV playing some advertisements. Auggie had been put to bed hours ago and it was obvious Riley had stayed up in hope of some news of Maya.

Exchanging a look, Cory made his way over to his daughter and lifted her up, followed by carrying her into her bedroom while Topanga turned off the TV and cleaned up a little bit.

Minutes later, Cory emerged from the hallway, a relieved look on his face, "I know where Maya is, she's okay."

* * *

 **A bit of a cliffy for you there today. Honestly, you guys are the best readers I could ever ask for. I am yet to receive a negative review from anyone (touch wood) and I am so, so thankful for that. I have currently written two chapters tonight (it's the 7/7). FOURTEEN+ REVIEWS ON THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER?! That's insane thank you so much! I just love writing this story so much. Alright, well have a good morning/evening/afternoon!**


	10. Shawn

**10\. Shawn**

" _You don't get to disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Dropping her hand by her side, Maya shuffled from foot to foot waiting for the door to open. It was getting late and that meant it was getting cold outside. All she was dressed in was a long sleeved shirt and torn jeans that weren't doing much against the weather. And to make it worse, she had been wandering around by herself for hours before working up the courage to visit him.

Finally, the door opened and she looked up to see the man she considered her father looking down at her.

Upon opening the door, Shawn glanced down at the blonde hair – blue eyed girl staring up at him. It took him a moment, but he snapped out of his confused state and ushered Maya in, noticing her shivering.

As she sat down on the couch, Shawn grabbed the blanket folded neatly on the back, wrapping it around her. "Th-thanks," She said to him, pulling the material tighter around her.

Without even asking, Shawn began making a hot chocolate and coffee for Maya and himself respectively. Once he was done, he sat down on the table in front of the sofa, handing the steaming mug to the blonde. After taking their first sips, Shawn placed the mug to the side and leant forward, "Now, why are you here at," He stopped to look at the clock on the wall. "Ten at night? By yourself, none the less."

Picking at the handle of her mug, Maya once again avoided Shawn's eyes – something she seemed to be doing too much since returning to New York. "I need to get away," She mumbled to him but Shawn heard it loud and clear.

"What did you need to get away from?" He asked gently, placing a hand on Maya's knee but watched as she flinched away from it before forcing herself to relax. What was that about?

"My ...m …oy…end." She was whispering so quietly that only parts of words were making it to Shawn at this point and he had to ask her to repeat herself. "My mom's boyfriend," Maya told him a little louder this time.

"Wyatt?" Sure, he had heard of the man that was dating Katy but he didn't really know him to judge him. "What has he done? Maya…" Shawn trailed off, everything seemingly to click into place.

The girl in question just nodded my head mutely and traced the rim of her cup.

"Can you show me please?" At that moment, Shawn wanted to scream and punch and hunt this man down but Maya was more important in that moment and doing all that would only push her away and scare her.

Turning her blue eyes to Shawn, he got to see the damage that had been done to Maya. She was broken. She was scared. She was lonely. She was hesitant. But despite this, she shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and lifted her shirt up, just enough to show her stomach. It was dark purple and blue in some places and a sickly yellow in others.

She then turned her back to Shawn, exposing her back to him. Red, angry marks littered the once pale skin and Shawn had to cover his mouth to stop any noise coming out. "Maya, did he hit you with a belt or something?"

When the blonde turned back around, the tears leaking down her cheeks told him his exact answer, but at the same time, washed any make-up on her cheeks off. There was a hand-print shaped mark on the left side of her face that was beginning to show through the foundation – one of the only things she was allowed to buy to cover Wyatt's tracks.

"The first thing we are going to do is take pictures of this," Shawn told her, standing and looking for his camera. "We need evidence for the police-"

At the mention of police Maya stood quickly before crying out in pain and clutching her side, "P-police? Please don't." She asked him through gritted teeth.

"Maya, you cannot go back to that place and live like this. We're going to take pictures for the police and then I'm taking you back to the Matthews' place. You can stay there until we sort this all out," Finally finding his camera, he turned back to Maya. "I have a pair of clothes that should fit you from years ago. Don't ask me how I have them but I just do, although they may be a little big on you. It's just so we can take the pictures and you can change into some old sweatpants I have."

* * *

It was close to one in the morning as Topanga and Cory sat on their couch, waiting for Maya to come through the door with Shawn.

Topanga had her head resting on Cory's shoulder, eyes dropping shut as he was on his phone to try and stay awake.

Finally, the front door opened and Shawn walked through awkwardly carrying Maya, who was fast asleep. Her legs dangled from either side of his waist and her head was lazily propped on his shoulder, blonde curls everywhere.

Quickly standing, Cory moved to take the girl from his best friend's arms, pausing when she mumbled something in her sleep before dropping right off again. "I'll put her in our room," He mouthed to Topanga before disappearing down the hall.

Shawn and Topanga were left in the living room when Shawn ran a hand through his hair and dropped to the sofa. Topanga sat next to him and waited for an explanation. Finally, he cracked and told her everything Maya had told him, watching Topanga's face fall with every word. And when he had shown her the pictures, she had begun sobbing just as Cory walked back in.

As soon as he saw the scene, he tried to console his wife while listening to Shawn's story. Once it was all over, he was just as angry and upset as the others. "We need to report this to the police," He spoke the obvious. "But it'll have to be tomorrow. Maya's safe here tonight and we can sort this all out in the morning."

Both nodded in agreement when Shawn remembered something, "One of you might want to stay with Maya tonight." He then looked towards Topanga, "It probably be you, she seems to be hesitant around men and she thinks of you as a second mother."

"Of course, I'll stay with her, but why?" Topanga asked, already rising from her seat, her tear finally drying.

"She's been having nightmares and it's best if someone is there to wake her up from them. I don't know how bad they are but she told me she's been waking up screaming for months now," Topanga just nodded, not replying and made her way down the hallway, towards her and Cory's bedroom.

Once they were sure she was out of sight, Cory turned to Shawn, "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"I don't know; I really don't know."

* * *

 **I wrote this yesterday before work so it's probably not the best and there's probably some of you thinking that it's stupid – don't worry, I think this is kinda weird too. I don't know, I'm not thrilled with it but at then again, that's for you to decide if you like of not. Can I just say that we are super close to 10k reads, which is pretty neat because this is chapter 10 of the book! Thank you all for reading and also thank you for nearly 100 follows along with fifteen+ reviews on** _ **Run Away Child**_ **. You guys are the best readers ever! :)**


	11. Riley Matthews

**11\. Riley Matthews**

" _You don't just get to disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

There wasn't much sleeping that night after the truth about Maya came out. Topanga, who was staying with the blonde sat awake for an hour, not able to sleep just in case Maya needed her.

Finally, at three, she managed to drift off into a weak sleep but was ripped out of that not too long after by the fidgeting girl next to her, no doubt that she was stuck in one of her twisted dreams once more.

Before Topanga could even wake her, Maya was upright and glancing around the room, eyes wide in fear of two things, one being the dream, no nightmare, she had just endured and two, the fact that she didn't know where she was.

Topanga gently rested her hand on the blonde's arm, trying not to frighten her but Maya still jumped at the unexpected touch. She whirled around to face Topanga, fully expecting it to be Wyatt but instead came face to face with the woman she thought of as a second mother.

Her shoulders slumped in relief and exhaustion, and Maya let her body fall to the side, onto Topanga's, who caught the girl and held her close to her, trying to let her know that she was safe through actions only.

After sitting there for somewhere between half an hour to an hour, the blonde finally managed to fall back asleep, but once Topanga tried to place her back down onto the bed to be more comfortable, her grip on her increased ten-fold and so the older woman was forced to lay down with her.

Shawn and Cory were still out in the main room, both passed out across the sofa, limbs strewn everywhere. Once Topanga had disappeared down the hallway to stay with Maya, they had stayed up for a while, talking about what they were going to do now they had Maya and the truth.

They had let Katy know that they had Maya at the Matthews' place safe and sound and the plans on what they were going to do and she had told them that she would give evidence for them if they needed it, leading the pair to realise that maybe Katy was involved in it all somehow.

* * *

When six-thirty am rolled around, Topanga's alarm clock rang. She was always up a half-hour before the others so she could make sure everything was done and ready for the day ahead.

To her surprise, it wasn't the alarm clock that woke Maya up, it was instead her rising out of bed – carefully might I add – that woke the girl.

She blinked sleepily and looked up at Topanga, eyes glazed over with sleep. Once she realised that the older woman seemed to be leaving her, Maya rose and grabbed her wrist to stop her in her tracks, "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to go and start to get ready," Topanga sat back down on the bed and brushed a blonde curl from Maya's face. "You can go back to sleep if you want."

Maya just shook her head stubbornly, "I'm coming with you."

Narrowing her eyebrows in concern, Topanga just nodded and made her way out of the room, Maya trailing behind her like a lost puppy.

* * *

"Hey, how did I get into bed?" Riley asked as she entered the kitchen that morning, fully dressed for the day. "I fell asleep on the-" She stopped mid-sentence, seeing the back of the familiar blonde curls sitting at the dining room table. "Maya?"

Wincing a little, Maya turned to look at the girl she thought of as a sister, "Hi, Riles."

"How – how are you here?" The brunette asked, not moving from her spot. She watched as Maya opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of something to say. Topanga had told her what the day's plan was and she knew that everything would be out by the time it got to dinner that night. Would it be better to tell Riley now or later on? "Well?" She snapped.

Gone was the girl who last night spent half the night up awake, waiting for news from her parents of the missing teen, now she was replaced with someone who was losing her patients easily.

Riley herself didn't know why her tone had changed so quickly. She couldn't help it, maybe it was the anger she had built up over the years because she hadn't seen her best friend, Riley honestly didn't have an answer.

"You know what, I don't have time this morning," Riley announced, grabbing her bag and making for the door. "Mom, I'll be at Topanga's after school with Lucas and Farkle."

"But what about –" Topanga called after her daughter but was cut off by the door slamming shut. She sighed and glanced at Maya, who was looking down at her plate and pushing the food around with her fork.

Placing down the spoon she had in hand, Topanga made her way around the table and sat next to Maya, "It'll all be okay. Once we explain to her the situation, she'll understand. I promise you, she'll come around."

* * *

She had done it.

She had actually done it.

The cops had believed her, they had seen the evidence and they had believed her story. And currently, they were on their way over to her apartment to arrest Wyatt.

The once thing that she was surprised about, however, was the fact that her mother had turned up and backed up her statements, revealing to not only the police but also Topanga that Wyatt had been abusive for the last two years.

Living arrangements were to be made because there was no way in hell that Katy and Maya were going back to the place they had been put through hell. Currently, they were on their way to Topanga's to talk to about everything.

As they stepped into the building, the trio caught the attention of Riley. Standing, she hesitantly made her way over to the table that held her parents, Maya's mom and Shawn. She stopped at the end of the table and looked directly at Maya, shuffling from foot to foot, "Can I talk to Maya please?"

"S-sure," Maya replied and stood, ignoring the looks the adults were shooting her, following Riley out the door.

As they sat on the metal chairs outside, Maya pulled her sleeves down to cover her wrists.

They sat in silence for who knows how long before Riley broke it, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," Maya replied sincerely, although she refused to look up at the taller girl.

"Where were you, Maya?" It was so quiet, almost inaudible, yet Maya heard it as if it had been shouted from the rooftops.

She had to tell her. She knew she had to. But something inside of her told her not to do it, that it would lead to bad things if she did. Instead of the truth, she muttered, "Please drop it, Riley, I'll tell you when I'm ready. Can't we just try and be friends again. I need you."

Reaching across the table, Riley gently squeezed her hand, "You're my best friend, Peaches. You can tell me anything."

Hearing the old nickname, Maya broke. The tears poured again and somewhere in her mind, she had to question whether or not she would ever run out of tears. Pushing her chair back, she stood and shook her head, "I'm sorry, Riley."

Maya tried to make a break for it, running up the concrete stairs and onto the main road. It wasn't a busy road but it did see its fair share of traffic from time to time.

Riley, on the other hand, could feel herself becoming angry again. When she got to the top of the stairs, she saw that Maya was halfway across the street and yelled after her, "You don't just get to disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was! So tell me, Maya, where were you?"

Any reply was cut off by the sound of a car getting closer and closer.

One of them was going to be hit, and she sure as hell wasn't about to let her get hurt. Running forward, she shoved the other girl out of the way mere seconds before her body collided with the car front, sending her through the air before landing lifelessly on the tarmac road.

* * *

 _ **Hello, this is girlmeetswords sister filling in for her to let you know that she's currently gone into hiding in anticipation of your more than likely 'kind' words you're about to leave her.**_ **Nah, it's just me. I don't have a sister but I have a feeling I'm going to be killed for this chapter so I'm gonna go before I die. Although one thing I wanna say is, could we maybe get 100 reviews on this chapter? That's only fourteen of you that I need to review for me, thankyou :)**


	12. Blurs

**12\. Blurs**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

 _ **Previously on**_ **Starting Over Again**

" _Can I talk to Maya please?"_

" _S-sure."_

* * *

" _I missed you."_

" _I missed you, too."_

* * *

" _Please drop it, Riley, I'll tell you when I'm ready. Can't we just be friends again. I need you."_

" _You're my best friend peaches. You can tell me anything."_

* * *

 _Any reply was cut off by the sound of a car getting closer and closer._

 _One of them was going to get hit, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let her get hurt. Running forward, she shoved the other girl out of the way mere seconds before her body collided with the front of the car, sending her flying through the air before landing lifelessly on the tarmac floor._

* * *

The sound was clear as day from inside the small café. The screeching of tires, the bang of something hitting metal followed by the screams of people.

Exchanging looks, adults, followed by Lucas and Farkle, dashed out the door and up the steps. Cory and Shawn were the first to arrive at the top of the stairs.

The second they saw the scene in front of them, they froze in their tracks, causing the other two women to run into the back of them.

The scene in front of them was horrific.

One girl was sat up, looking to be in incredible – but she was awake none-the-less – as she just stared at the girl that was sprawled across the floor.

Limbs were bent at different angles and blood was beginning to pool under her. Her head was turned away from them so they couldn't see the damage done to her but from the state of the rest of her body, it couldn't be good.

Passers-by had begun to crowd around the scene of the accident, the driver of the car looking horrified as he stood by his car door, phone in hand to call for help.

Topanga and Katy stepped around the two men and took in the scene for themselves, gasping at what they saw, "Oh my God."

As if they had been snapped back to reality, Cory and Shawn dashed over to the girl on the floor, dropping to their knees next to her while Topanga and Katy went to the other as Lucas and Farkle just watched on, not knowing what to do. Upon seeing her mother there, she turned up to her and just started full-blown sobbing, "It hurts."

"Where sweetie? Where does it hurt?" Katy asked as she moved down to look at her foot, clearly having been damaged in the accident. Looking up at the Topanga, she knew that it was serious just by looking at the state of her.

"My foot," She replied through gritted teeth before her eyes began to slip shut.

Noticing the girl's head beginning to become limp, Topanga shook her a little, "No, come on. Stay awake." But it was too late, she had slipped unconscious.

The pair jerked their heads towards the men when they heard Cory call out, "We need an ambulance now, she's not going to hold on much longer."

* * *

As they dropped by the side of the girl, the damage was becoming more and more apparent. Careful not to move her too much, Shawn lowered his head near her mouth to check if she was breathing.

His own breath caught in his throat for a split second before he heard a shallow, strained breath. "She's breathing – barely – but she's breathing," He sighed for a moment before instructing Cory to check her pulse.

"Weak, it's so weak," Was the feedback he got.

Shawn jumped up and moved to the other side of the girl, noticing blood pouring from the side of her head, "I need something to stop this bleeding, now!"

Someone who was standing by removed their scarf and handed it to Shawn, who folded it up so it would work as a temporary bandage until real help got there.

"We need an ambulance now," Cory called out after a few minutes, feeling her pulse dropping as time passed. "She's not going to hold on much longer."

As if he had summoned one, sirens could be heard in the distance. They got closer and closer before finally stopping, paramedics jumping out of the back and rushing over to the two separate girls.

Time passed and the four were forced to step back for the paramedics to do their work. Before long, they were strapped up and being loaded into the back of the ambulances. A woman stayed behind and looked at them, "Are you their parents?"

"Y-yeah, yes were are," Katy asked, her eyes rimmed red with unshed tears as reality began to sink in.

"We can take two of you with us to the hospital, one in each. Decide now – we need to get her in if there's any chance for her," She said before she turned and dashed towards the ambulance she arrived in.

Topanga was the one to push Shawn and Cory forward, "Cory go with Riley and Shawn with Maya. I'll close everything and we'll be there as soon as soon as we can."

Climbing into the back of the separate ambulances, the doors slammed and they were gone.

* * *

Farkle just stood on the side of the road, watching the scene unfold. Two of his best friends were in trouble, they were hurt and he didn't know what to do with himself. One of them was fighting for her life.

These were the girls he had met at Riley's Halloween party at the age of seven and had stuck with ever since. And then he had lost Maya when she moved away unexpectedly, tearing their group apart. And now she was back.

But now one of them was fighting for her life. He could lose her in a split second.

Lucas' hand pulled him out of his thoughts as he tried to direct him in the direction of Topanga's car.

It was when he felt something warm trickle down his cheek did he realise he had begun crying.

* * *

 **Oh aren't I an evil little bean? You thought you would find out who was knocked down in this chapter, didn't you? You don't know how hard it was not to reveal names in this but I did it. And I promise you that you will find out in the next chapter. But the question is, when will I post the next chapter? Haha the stories fate is in my hands. I don't really know if I like this chapter, oh well :S You lot blew up over the last chapter, something like twenty+ reviews! Thank you so much! So I have two questions for you; 1) who do you think got knocked over. 2) If I was to write something Boy Meets World (Topanga centric because she's my BMW queen – Maya's my GMW queen) would you be interested? It would be something dark – because that is all I ever seem to write in life. Let me know!**


	13. Hospitals

**13\. Hospitals**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

"Riley Matthews, 17, involved in a pedestrian accident. Currently unconscious, possible concussion, sprained wrist, however, the main problem seems to be her foot – crushed in several places and will require surgery immediately," A paramedic called out as they rolled the brunette into the ER.

Not too far behind, a second stretcher was rolled in, although a lot more activity was buzzing around it, "Maya Hart, 17, involved in the same accident as Riley. We need scans immediately – possible internal bleeding, several fractured ribs, head trauma, broken leg. She needs a blood transfusion if we want to keep her alive. We lost her once on the way here, let's not do that again."

And with that, the two girls were gone through the doors, leaving both Cory and Shawn to sit in the uncomfortable plastic blue chairs that the hospital provided.

Cory leant forward and rested his elbows on his knees, head in hands when he remembered something that they had called out. Turning to Shawn, he asked, "What did they mean by they lost her once?"

Refusing to make eye contact with his life-long best friend, Shawn just snapped back, "Exactly what it means."

The pair lapsed into silence before Shawn sighed and turned to Cory to apologise, "Look, I'm sorry. I just love that kid like a daughter, even when she disappeared for two years and-" He was cut off by the four they had left outside Topanga's entering.

Katy was the one to spot them and rushed over, "How are they?" She asked although it came out more like, "Howarethey?"

"Riley's in the best shape," Cory looked straight at Topanga who seemed to relax a little bit before tensing back up. "I think they said something about surgery for her foot and her wrist is fractured."

"But what about Maya?" Lucas jumped in, talking for the first time since everything had happened. "She's okay, right? I mean…"

Nobody answered for a moment, not knowing what to say before Shawn took over, "She's in horrible condition. I can't remember what they said exactly but it wasn't good. They… They lost her on the way here."

"No," Katy spoke suddenly and stubbornly. "She's not… I know she's not. Tell me she's not." The mother couldn't force herself to say the words.

To her – and everyone else's relief, Shawn shook his head, "No, they brought her back but they were struggling then, they really don't know what's going to happen."

* * *

After that, nobody said a word and instead plopped themselves into the other chairs and waited. Farkle and Lucas both left at one point to call their parents and let them know what happened and didn't move again until Lucas' parents showed up to take them home with the promise they could come back the following day as soon as they could.

The four adults didn't move for the night. At some point, Topanga and Cory had fallen asleep, her head on his shoulder and his head resting on top of hers. Shawn and Katy were both wide awake, both for very similar reasons.

Shawn looked over at his two best friends from his childhood and then back to Katy. The poor woman had been on and off crying for hours – although currently she was not. But the evidence was in her red-rimmed eyes and blotchy cheeks. "She'll be okay," He said with no warning, managing to even surprise himself.

Katy just watched him for a moment, not saying anything. She blinked a few times before finally finding her voice, "How do you know that? You're not a doctor."

Shawn stood and made his way to the other side of Katy, "I don't know." He thought for a moment, pondering the consequences his actions would have before deciding to wrap his arm around Katy. He could feel her tensing for a moment and although he hadn't been told directly, he could tell that Maya wasn't the only victim of Wyatt. "But what I do know is that she's been to hell and back and she's still here. I know that she could have given up a long time ago but she didn't."

Katy just leant into Shawn's arm and sobbed. Not like the crying she had been doing since she arrived at the hospital, but the sort of crying that a person who's been hiding everything does. All her emotions from the past two years flooded out and Shawn sat there and let the woman cry.

She sobbed and hiccupped and gasped for breath until it had all finally come out. It was only when her breathing evened out did Shawn realise that she had cried herself to sleep but was also clutching tightly onto his jacket. Not having the heart to wake her, he leant back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment.

That moment turned into a couple hours.

* * *

She was tired. All she wanted to do was sleep forever but that wasn't going to happen. That was the first thing she was aware of.

The next was the dull ache coming from somewhere on her body. If she was more alert, she could have pinpointed the pain.

And lastly, she could hear a beeping coming from somewhere, almost sounding like an alarm clock.

As she became more aware of everything, the sunlight pouring through what she assumed was a window made its way through her eyelids. She could hear herself groan as she tried to move and make herself comfortable but found she couldn't. Something was holding her back from doing so.

It took a lot of effort for her to open her eyes and when she did, nothing was clear. She could make out the shapes of items in the room and was quickly realising that it wasn't _her_ room. In fact, it wasn't any room she recognises.

Finally, her eyesight cleared up and she could see the figure of her mother sitting by the side of her bed, reading something on her phone. Opening her mouth, she tried to called her mother but her voice cracked and cut off halfway. But that was still enough to catch Topanga's attention. Quickly looking up at the sound, Topanga smiled and stood, "Riley, you're okay."

"M-mom, what happened?" Was all she asked and watched as Topanga's reaction.

* * *

 **Hey peaches! Can I call you that? I feel like I need something to call you guys and 'readers' is a pretty boring one (even though it's correct). So here's your new chapter of SOA. Sorry it took so long but I couldn't figure out what to write so I kind of just went for it and ended up with this. We finally found out who was who and yes, I made Maya's life worse again. Some of you thought it was Riley who was hit by the car but yeah… You'll never guess what happened yesterday. Those who follow Sabrina on twitter know she did a follow spree and well SHE FOLLOWED ME! I'm not even kidding SABRINA ANN LYNN CARPENTER FOLLOWED ME ON TWITTER AND I'M DYING HOLY MACARONI. Alright, I got that out of my system, thank you for reading this chapter. Make sure you leave a review telling me what you thought of it :) Thanks again!**


	14. The Truth About Maya Hart

**13\. The Truth About Maya Hart**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Topanga sat gently on the edge of her daughter's bed, gently holding her hand, "What do you remember, sweetie?"

She watched as Riley seemed to look distant for a moment before glancing down at her body, seeing the cast surrounding her left wrist and right foot. "I remember the pain and then nothing. What happened?"

"You were involved in an accident with a car," Topanga began to explain but Riley jumped in and cut her off. "I was hit by a car!?"

"No sweetie," She squeezed her hand lightly before continuing with her explanation. "You were at Topanga's with your friends and Maya was with us. You asked if you could talk to her and she agreed. You two went outside so after that we don't really know what happened – we were hoping that you could tell us what you remembered. There was a bang or something and we came outside. You and Maya were on the floor and she had been hit by a car. She pushed you out the way before it could hit you but the car still rolled over your foot."

And as if a switch had been flicked, everything came flooding back to Riley that had happened over the previous forty-eight hours. Maya had disappeared. She fell asleep on the couch. She woke up to find Maya in her living room talking to her mom. She had left for school and gone to Topanga's after school. Then she had asked to talk with Maya who hadn't opened up to her but had admitted that she missed their friendship. Then Maya had tried to leave, prompting her to follow. They had both stepped out onto the road, unaware of anything around them. The next thing she knew, she was being shoved out of the way and Maya's body was flying through the air. Her foot was in agony and then voices surrounded her before everything had gone dark.

"Maya… saved me?" She asked, unsure herself and looked to her mother for confirmation. The older woman just nodded, not totally sure herself but that was the best thing they had to go by. "But why would she do that?"

Squeezing the hand she held, Topanga replied simply, "She loves you. You're her _best friend,_ sister even."

"But I've ignored her all this time since she returned," Riley spoke out loud before trying to push herself off her bed. "I have to see her," Her attempted, however, was quickly cut short by both her mother grabbing her back and her body giving up on her attempt.

"Riley, no, you have to stay in bed," Topanga scolded her lightly and helped her get back into the bed comfortably. "You just had surgery on your foot that's going to need time to heal and then probably therapy afterwards. You won't be walking on your own for a good two months." She then promptly laughed and the pout that found its way onto the seventeen-year-olds face. Although she didn't show it much anymore, she still had that seven-year-old in her.

"At least tell me what happened to Maya, mom," It wasn't a question, she just had to know what state the girl was in and if she couldn't go see herself, she would be told.

Topanga's face seemed to become solemn for a moment before she brushed a strand of Riley's hair behind her ear, "We don't know what's happened to Maya. She's still in emergency surgery at the moment."

"But she'll be okay, right? She's always okay," She repeated back one of the lines that Maya had said to her a while ago.

"I hope so sweetheart, but I don't know," As much as she wanted to protect her daughter from the harsh reality, Topanga knew she couldn't this time. "There's something else you need to know about Maya."

Riley's expression morphed into a confusion at this, "What about her?"

"She was going to tell you later, Riles, but she can't so I have to," She started before taking a breath, trying to figure out how to say what she had to. "When Maya moved away two years ago and didn't tell us it was happening; it was because it was a sudden thing. You remember Wyatt? Katy's boyfriend?" She nodded. "He was abusing them at the time," Her voice was soft as she watched Riley's reaction.

"But he stopped right?" Her mother didn't say anything so Riley prompted, "Right?"

"No, sweetie, he had been hitting them for the past two years. He was arrested yesterday when Maya, Katy and I went down to report it all," Topanga's heart broke at the sight of her daughter trying to come to terms with the news. It had been hard enough for her to come to terms with, and then throw in the accident – she couldn't imagine the thoughts that ran through Riley's head at that moment in time. Sure, Maya was her second daughter, although not blood-related – but Riley and Maya had created a special bond and if one girl felt pain, so did the other.

"But – But," As much as she try, nothing would come out of her mouth. All she could think about was what Maya had been forced through over the years and how even when she did return she didn't manage to pick up on it. There had been a change in the girl but it should have been screaming out at Riley. "Was it happening before she left?"

The simple look on her mother's face made her feel even worse and she lost it. Slumping into Topanga, tears leaked out of her eyes. Through her sobs and gasps, she muttered out things such as "I'm such a bad friend" and "How didn't I pick up on it?" There was nothing Topanga but try and comfort the girl, whispering soothing things and stroking her hair to try and calm her down.

Some time later, she had finally calmed enough to sit back up on her own and wipe the remaining tears away. Before she could open her mouth to say something else, Shawn appeared in the doorway, looking a little flustered. He paused for a moment to look at Riley, who was now sitting upright in bed before just coming out with what he had to say, "We have news on Maya."

* * *

 **Peaches I'm back! Don't know where I went because it's literally been a day but let's go with it. A little Topanga/Riley chapter for you. So I have some bad news for you – I'm going on holiday all week next week so I may not update. I am considering pre-writing one or two chapters for you but idk if I will. Anyway, thank you for nearly 150 reviews, that's insane! It's like twenty-five degrees today and I hate heat so I'm dying lol. Make sure you leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter. PS are any of you playing Pokemon go? My parents are more into it than me, always asking if i've collected more haha**


	15. Injuries

**14\. Injuries**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

"What's wrong with her?" Riley asked, and although her tears had dried up, her voice was still a little croaky from it all.

"She's fractured several ribs which they need to keep an eye on just in case on punctures a lung or something similar. She hit her head pretty hard when she fell to the floor so they had to do testing on her for any bleeding on the brain but so far it looks like she's all clear. Also, Maya was bleeding internally so they rushed her into surgery for that. They think they've got it all but only time can tell now," Shawn explained to them in the briefest way possible. He really didn't want to be explaining all of this but he had no choice. He couldn't exactly leave them in the dark.

"Can she have visitors?" Topanga asked, still not having moved from her position she took up thirty minutes ago.

He shook his head, "It's only family for today since they're keeping a close eye on her. It's all touch and go at this moment in time. If she makes it through the first twenty-four hours, then they'll let people see her. But until then, we have to wait and see."

Riley's face dropped at that. She really wanted to go and see how the blonde girl was doing but also _talk_ to her. She needed to. She needed to apologise to Maya for not seeing what had happened to her. For not being there when she needed her.

And anyway, it wasn't like she would be allowed out of the room.

A sudden thought struck her, "How long am I here for?" She asked her mother.

"A couple of days," Topanga told her. "They want to make sure your foot is okay after the surgery but you'll be out of here by about Saturday – Sunday at the latest." _That wasn't too bad_ , Riley thought to herself. _Two days, I can handle that._

"Another thing you should know," Shawn jumped back into the conversation and grabbed the attention of the girls. "Is that they don't know if Maya's going to wake up. Since she hit her head fairly hard and has been out ever since they can't guarantee that she will. And even if she does, there could be consequences. And to top it all off, she lost a fair amount of blood."

"What kind?"

Topanga stepped into the conversation at that point, knowing the answer would upset her daughter, "Let's just focus on Maya waking up first, okay? We can deal with anything else afterwards."

* * *

Katy sat in silence next to her daughter's bed, just watching. The only indication she had of her daughter being alive was the small rise and fall of her chest. Maya's skin was normally pale, but currently, she was almost as white as the bed sheets surrounding her.

Her arm was wrapped in a cast and propped up by some pillows next to her. Katy then looked towards Maya's torso, where she couldn't see the bandages but knew they were there from where the doctors had to operate to stop the bleeding. Her head was wrapped as well, covering the gash she had on the side of her face.

This didn't look like the little girl she knew and had raised.

Finally, she opened her mouth to talk, "Hey baby girl," She started off. "I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, you have to wake up. I know up until know, life hasn't been treating you fairly one bit and it got worse after Wyatt came into it all. And now that he's gone out of our lives, we can start all over again. He won't be coming back, baby girl, there's too much evidence against him."

"But the only way that we can start all over again is for you to pull through this all and we can begin a new life. The job at Topanga's I was telling you about, it's got an amazing pay and we can move house, maybe somewhere nicer than before."

Katy paused for a minute to think about what to say next, "You have so many people here that love you. Cory, Topanga, Auggie, Riley, Shawn, Lucas, Farkle, me. Maya, you're all I have in this life and if I don't have you in it, then I don't know what I'd do with myself."

She could feel herself becoming emotional and decided to end it there, she couldn't let this end in tears again. A distant thought came to mind and that was how it was possible for that many tears to be cried in such a short period of time before she shoved it to the back of her mind and focused on everything else.

The only noise left in the room was the beeping of the machines.

* * *

Farkle and Lucas were sat out in the waiting room in silence, both thinking about the events that had taken place. Finally, Lucas broke it, "How do you think they're holding up?"

"The girls?" Farkle questioned. "I hope they're okay, of course I do. But if Maya doesn't pull through, it's going to kill Riley. And I know it's going to affect us all deeply. Without Maya, the group is just… incomplete. You know how it's been over the last two years without Maya here, we all cracked and fell apart."

"If we have Maya with us, we can fix our friendships," Lucas finished for him while Farkle nodded in agreement. "We could become one group again."

"Exactly that. If we lose Maya again, we're never going to go back to the way we were," Farkle looked to the floor. "I don't want to know a world without her. She's been part of my life since we were seven-years-old. And I've loved both of them since then."

* * *

 **I really didn't know how to finish this chapter so it's a lame ending but ya know, whatever. It is so warm and writing is killing me in this heat but I am pulling through for you guys. I'm losing my inspiration to write this story at the moment, and it didn't help that I only got seven reviews on the last chapter – don't get me wrong, I'm super grateful to those who review every single chapter, but last time they just plummeted. Please, could you leave one on this chapter for me letting me know what you think! To guest4783, thank you so much for telling your friend about my story and I'm glad she liked it! Of course I'll read you story when you publish it and help you out with it! I'm only sixteen myself at the time of writing (seventeen in about a month and a bit). Let me know when it's up and I'll help you out! Thank you again, guys, you're some of the best readers I could ask for :) Also it's been a month since I posted the first chapter, what?**


	16. Family Visits

**15\. Family Visits**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Riley was released the following Saturday as predicted. But instead of going home to relax, she was forced to interact with the family members that had travelled from wherever to see how she was doing.

It wasn't like she didn't appreciate them for doing so, it was just the fact that she hadn't slept probably in a few days because those hospital beds were not as comfortable as your own bed. For the past few days, she had been anticipating coming home and just curling up in her own bed – just getting hours of uninterrupted sleep.

But those plans had been thrown out the window when she had hopped through the front door on the crutches that had been provided to her by the hospital – and it would take a while to get used to the darn things and find a comfortable position to use them in – to see her uncles and aunt along with her grandparents sitting on the couch and chairs around the room.

Riley tried to be sociable and talk to the people who had taken time out of their days to come and visit her but after a particularly dragging conversation with her Aunt Morgan, she couldn't take it anymore.

Propping her head in her hand, she closed her eyes and just waited. Closing her eyes was tempting for her to fall straight into a slumber but she held off. Riley almost gave in when she heard her aunt call her parents over to her.

Although they were speaking in hushed tones, she could still hear the conversation, "Cory, Topanga, come here."

Two sets of footsteps were coming in her direction but she didn't move it, otherwise, they would know instantly she was faking it. They stopped near her head, "What's wrong?" She could hear her mother asking.

"She's fallen asleep sitting up," Morgan could be heard explaining. Before she knew it, she was being lifted up into the air carefully and carried, she assumed, down the hallway to her bedroom. She could hear bed sheets being shuffled about and then felt herself being placed onto the mattress, the whole time trying to keep the façade of being asleep up.

Her parents exchanged some words before footsteps leaving. Riley thought she was all alone but knew better when her mother bent down near her and whispered, "I know you're faking it."

Riley kept her eyes closed but let a smile slip onto her face, showing her mother she had heard her.

After that, she let herself sleep.

* * *

It was dark.

But just because it was dark didn't mean she couldn't hear anything.

She had heard every single thing that had been said either to her or to someone else in the room, she had heard it all.

She knew that they weren't too sure that she was going to wake up and there was one thing she was determined to do and that was to prove to them that she could.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the initial accident and it was decided that Riley could start going back to school. For the first day back, it was only a half day that she would be attending school for, to make sure she didn't overdo it straight away.

And currently, she was hobbling down the hallway towards her first-period class, history with her father. She was forced to wait in the office with Farkle until the hallways were cleared so that it didn't cause a possible threat to her foot. Finally, it was deemed safe to leave and the pair began to agonising journey down the hallway towards the classroom.

When they entered, Cory was already in the middle of something so he just nodded to the two of them and continued speaking.

Riley could feel their eyes burning into her back as she sat in her chair. She hadn't been to school for weeks but of course, news travelled around and everyone would want to know exactly what happened two weeks ago and what happened to Maya.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

For some reason, the noise she had been hearing for the last two weeks seemed to fade out almost completely to a low hum. The sudden change in noise worried her slightly but it didn't seem like anyone – if there was anyone in the room with her – could tell the difference.

Without much warning, the hum cut out completely and she was left in silence before her ears began ringing suddenly.

She tried to open her eyes and to her surprise, whatever had been keeping her eyelids locked shut for two weeks had disappeared. Painfully slowly, she managed to force her eyes open and take in the blinding white light around her. Yet she couldn't keep them open for long because having sudden light shoved into your eyes after nothing but darkness for two weeks? Let's just say it hurt.

It took several more attempts to get her eyes to stay open and when she finally did, she could take in the room around her.

Her body was kind of numb, she assumed the pain medication they had been giving her during her time unconscious. The walls were incredibly white, making the room look cleaner than it probably was.

Sat in the chairs next to her was her mother and Shawn, the latter with his arm around Katy, holding her while they both slept. In all honesty, they looked worse for wear. She knew that Katy hadn't left her side for more than an hour during the time she was out and sleeping in those plastic chairs were probably the worst thing for a person.

Her skin was pale and there were bags under her eyes and now that she was awake, the first thing Maya was doing was sending her mother home to have a proper sleep, along with Shawn since he didn't look any better and she had to question why he was still there after all this time.

The thought of Wyatt struck her for a moment as she thought how he was going to kill Katy for being in such a position with another man before she remembered that the scum bag had been arrested the day of the accident.

Maya tried to open her mouth to call out to her mother and Shawn but her words were muffled by the feeding tube the doctors had put down her throat to keep her fed. But the noise were still loud enough for Shawn to hear who woke and looked at the blonde beauty who was now awake and staring right back at him with bloodshot piercing blue eyes.

* * *

 **So I really want to thank you for your reviews on the last chapter, you are the best reviewers ever! And for that, over the next two days, I am going to write out three chapters for you which will be released on the following days during my vacation; Chapter Sixteen - Sunday, July 24th, Chapter Seventeen - Wednesday, July 27th and Friday, July 29th. I may release chapter names in Sunday's update but I don't now yet. No guarantee these will be released on the exact day said since I don't know what I will be doing on that day when I'm in Spain. For those of you asking, no there will be no focus on any ships in this story, but I will maybe be slipping in some way toned down Lucaya and Riarkle, but it'll be watered down so if you don't like those, you could probably view it as friendship? I don't know at this point - I haven't written it yet. Also, IT IS SKI LODGE DAY PEOPLE! I believe it's the movies for tonight and then the decision next week? Do correct me if I'm wrong but also... SABRINA HAS MUSIC NEWS TODAY - could this day get any better? :P**


	17. Not Quite Right

**16\. Not Quite Right**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Nobody moved for a minute, the pair just staring at each other.

Shawn was the first one to make a move, straightening up from his slouched position. Once he was sitting upright, he reached out for Maya who, seeing the hand coming for her, flinched backwards.

Seeing this, he instantly dropped his hand to his side and looked at the blonde, concerned.

Next to him, Katy began to stir from the sudden lack of contact. Since Shawn was blocking her view of her daughter, she didn't see that Maya was awake until she too was sitting upright. However, once she did, she jumped up and hugged the girl, completely forgetting about her injuries.

Yet Maya didn't feel the pain that she should have from the hug, instead staring straight ahead blankly.

Shawn noticed this and tugged on Katy's shirt to pull her away from the girl, watching her reaction. Even without her mother clinging to her, she still took a few moments to compose herself and come back to reality.

A nurse entered the room with Katy trailing behind (and when did Katy even leave to get that nurse?) who made her way over to Maya with a gentle smile on her face, "Hello Maya. My name's Linda and I've been keeping track of your recovery over the last couple of weeks."

The blonde just stared back at her, not being able to do much in a form of replying because of the tube in her throat preventing her from doing so. "Let's get that thing out and then we'll go from there, yeah?"

Once it was finally removed (she never wanted to do that again), she was free to talk once more. After the standard several questions and checking of injuries, she was given the all clear that she could be going home by the end of the week as long as everything progressed the way it was supposed to.

It was a miracle that there were no more injuries than she had already received. There was no apparent memory loss or damage which was good news to hear. Linda did, however, warn to keep an eye on her in case she began to show signs of odd behaviour. "I don't think there will be anything because it would have shown up when she woke up, but we can never be sure with these things," She had told them as she jotted down some notes on a clipboard and then hung it at the end of the bed once more.

The silence took over once more, Maya now propped up against several pillows to help make sure she didn't open the stitches across her stomach after the surgery. Her hands were in her lap and she was fiddling with her thumbs, lost in her own world.

"Baby girl?" Katy asked and watched as Maya slowly lifted her eyes to look at her. "Is there anything I can get you?"

Maya thought for a moment, wondering if it would be rude to ask but did anyway, "Riley?"

"Riley's in school, Maya," Shawn told her and watched as the blonde sighed and went back to playing with her thumbs. "Alright, I'll call her."

A faint smile made its way onto her face as she just continued to look down. That was until a phone was placed in front of her face.

* * *

Cory was mid-way through his last period history class which happened to have his daughter in (and she always seemed to be in his class) when his phone began to vibrate from its position face down on the desk.

The whole class stopped what they were doing to look for the source of the noise, realising that it was, in fact, their teachers when he went over and picked up the device.

Flipping it over so the screen was facing him, he frowned when he saw the name ' _Shawn Hunter'_ flashing. For a moment his heart stopped, thinking something had happened with Maya – why else would Shawn call during a lesson? – and turned to the class, "I have to take this, talk quietly amongst yourself for a moment."

Ignoring the look Riley was shooting him, Cory stepped out into the hallway and accepted the call, "Shawn?"

"Hey Core," Came the familiar voice down the other end of the line. "I know you have a class right now, but I have someone here who wants to talk to your daughter. In fact, that's the only thing she wants to do right now."

"Maya's awake?" Was the only thing he said, ignoring the rest of what Shawn had told him.

He could practically feel him rolling his eyes on the other end of the line, "Yes, I thought you could tell that, Cory. But she wants to talk to a certain brunette. Can she?"

"Um," Bringing his wrist up into view, he checked it. There wasn't much class time left anyway, it wouldn't hurt. "Sure, let me get her."

Stepping back into the classroom, he looked straight at Riley and held out the phone, "I'm not supposed to do this but you have a phone call. Go take it out in the hallway and try not to get caught."

Once she had untangled herself from the chair, Riley grabbed her crutches and hopped her way over to her father, grabbing the phone from him.

* * *

Farkle watched from his chair behind Riley's as she came back into the room with a huge smile on her face. They had all moved back into the Middle School formation they had in their history class that day, leaving one empty seat for Maya to take up when she came back to school.

As she sat back down, Farkle pulled lightly on the end of her hair, catching the brunette's attention. "What's got you all smiley Riley?" He asked and he swore her grin got just a little bit bigger.

"Fancy a trip down to the hospital after school?" Was all she asked and then watched as the gears in Farkle's head began to spin.

* * *

 **Such a short little chapter today but I gave you one anyway lol. I'm currenlty pre-writing this chapter the day before my flight because I'm just that prepared _not_. So when this goes up, I should be flying in a couple hours, I may even update this chapter from the airport. So, is like anyone else not happy with Ski Lodge part two promo that's been given or just me? SPOILER - ** It may not be cannon anymore but I don't care, Lucaya will never, ever sink and I may even write a lucaya story because that's the only Lucaya I'm getting now blech. **SPOILER OVER. Anywho ON PURPOSE IS BEING RELEASE JULY 29TH SO MAKE SURE YOU BUY IT ON ITUNES PEOPLE HELP IT IN THE CHARTS! A little announcement from me, chapter names. Chapter seventeen will officially be named _Home Sweet Home_ while chapter eighteen will be named _New Home_ _._ My question to you today is, can we get SOA to 200 reviews soon? I've never had that amount before and it would be pretty cool if we could get that :P **


	18. Home Sweet Home

**17\. Home Sweet Home**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

THIS CHAPTER WAS RELEASED IN THE WRONG PLACE MAKE SURE YOU READ NOT QUITE RIGHT AGAIN FOR THE ACTUAL VERSION OF THAT CHAPTER!

* * *

A timid little knock came from the hospital room door, causing Maya to look up from the book she was reading. And yes, book, it was something she had found comfort in when everything first happened, it allowed her to submerge herself into an alternate reality away from her own and sometimes she even found she could relate to the characters.

Standing in her doorway, she was greeted by three faces she knew all too well, but at the same time was distanced from.

Riley was in front of the two boys who were standing behind her on either side. By the looks of it, they had all come straight from school to the hospital to see her, based on the fact that they carried their book bags with them – well Riley's was dangling off Farkle's arm.

"Peaches?" Riley asked and Maya focused on the brunette. Farkle, seeing that Maya was about to get out of the bed and come towards them, picked Riley up and placed her on the bed next to Maya. As soon as she was down on the bed, Riley was hugging the blonde with all her might, afraid that if she let her go, she would disappear again. Like hell she was going to let that happen.

"Riley?" Maya asked, unsure of the whole situation. For some reason, she felt completely at ease when the brunette hugged her – something that from her own mother made her freeze up. Maybe it was because in the past she was closest to Riley?

Pushing back a little, Riley studied Maya intensely, looking over everything while her bad foot lay limply over the edge of the bed. Several scrapes littered the pale skin, including a medium sized gash down the side of her head which was beginning to heal. Maya's hair, which had been cut short just before she left, was now back to its original length, blonde curls tumbling all over the place yet they were limp and dull because she hadn't been able to take proper care of it. Her eyes, Riley noticed, weren't the same anymore. Before, they were broken, yes, but there was still a little hope there for her. But now that light was gone and all that was left was a broken little girl.

"I'm so sorry I didn't realise sooner," Was all Riley said as she pulled the blonde into another hug, this one not as tight as before. Maya just crinkled her eyebrows in confusion, asking, "What do you mean?"

"About Wyatt," The brunette clarified, not realising that this was the first time that Lucas and Farkle had been told anything fully. "What he did to you, I'm so sorry I was such a bad best friend and didn't realise until it was almost too late."

Maya could feel a little damp patch beginning to form on her shoulder where Riley's head was and her eyes grew with realisation. "It's – It's not your fault, Riles," She held the girl a little tighter to her. "I'm the one who didn't tell you anything was wrong."

She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again, showing her red-rimmed eyes to Farkle and Lucas who were just staring at her. "Maya," Lucas was the one to ask. "What is she talking about?"

"No one's told you?" She muttered to herself before taking a deep breath. "My mother's boyfriend… beat me." There, it was out in the open for everyone to know. She had surprised herself with how easily that had come out.

She could see Lucas becoming angry where he stood and knew that Texas Lucas was making a return any second – and that thought honestly scared the living daylight out of her. When Lucas was angry, he lost control.

"Maya," This time it was Farkle. "Is that why we found a blood stain on your carpet and your apartment trashed not too long after you left?"

Riley had now pulled away at this point and was looking straight at the boys with questioning eyes, "What?"

"We're sorry we didn't tell you, Riley-" Farkle tried to explain but was cut off by the girl in question, "You should have told me, Farkle! Maybe if you had of done, we wouldn't have been here right now!"

"Riley, we didn't tell you because we didn't want to worry you about Maya," Lucas jumped into the conversation. "We didn't want you to jump to a conclusion about what had happened and think the worst. We didn't want you to flip out and start a man hunt for Maya because we didn't know what had happened to her ourselves."

Taking a few deep breaths, Riley calmed herself but refused to say anything to either of the boys, instead turning to Maya, "Do you forgive me?"

The blonde just blinked for a moment, "There's nothing to forgive, Riley. I'm the one you need to forgive because I left with no warning and didn't contact you."

"Fine," Riley looked into Maya's eyes. "I'll 'forgive' you if you 'forgive' me?"

Smiling a little, although nothing like she used to, Maya wrapped her arms around Riley and buried her head into the taller girl's shoulder, "Deal."

The sound of someone clearing their throat made its way from the door, interrupting the moment. There stood Shawn, watching and taking in how Maya seemed to be comfortable with Riley's touch but not with anyone else's. "Can I talk to Maya alone, please?"

Lucas and Farkle turned to leave without a word while Riley went to grab the crutches that were propped against the bed when a small hand caught her wrist, "Stay please?" It was so quiet that she didn't almost hear it and she probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for Maya grabbing her wrist.

Shawn sat down the end of the bed and looked at the female version of him and Cory. "Maya, when you get released from here, I assume you don't want to go back to your old apartment?" The blonde shook her head. "I bought the apartment above the Matthew's recently and I was wonder… Would you and your Mom like to move in with me? There're three bedrooms so you would get your own room and I have an office that you could use for an art studio if you wanted to."

Maya didn't reply, just watching Shawn carefully. After a moment, he nervously asked, "So what do you think?"

* * *

 **GUYS I SCREWED UP AND RELEASED THE WRONG CHAPTER ON SUNDAY SO GO BACK AND READ NOT QUITE RIGHT AHHH I'M AN IDIOT! I'm currently at the side of my pool in Spain and I'm ngl I'm burnt lol. But I do have bad news... I didn't get a chance to write chapter eighteen so this is the last update I have for almost a week :(( I'm so sorry but the last two days before we left were hectic and I can't write here (well I do have my iPad but it's too hard to write with). Also, there's so many rumours about gmw being cancelled and stuff and I honestly don't know what's going on, I really don't want it to be cancelled because I love the show too much for that to happen but I guess only time will tell :'( Finanlly, on a happier note, WE HIT 200 REVIEWS WITH THIS CHAPTER! IVE NEVER HAD THAT MANY IN MY LIFE SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! I promise that I'll give as many updates as I physically can when I get home next week!**


	19. New Home

**18\. New Home**

" _You don't just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Was she comfortable?

She wouldn't lie and say she was uncomfortable but she also couldn't say she was in the comfiest of positions.

Sure, Maya was extremely grateful to Shawn for doing this for her and her mother and she could never repay him for letting them live with him.

But she had spent two years of her life trapped inside her mother's toxic relationship with her abusive boyfriend who was never actually sober enough to realise what he was doing. Maya had once upon a time liked to believe that everyone had a good side, but once she had met Wyatt, that belief wasn't so strong anymore.

The man had stripped her trust in most men. She trusted Shawn, yes, but there was always that little voice in the back of her head warning her to be on her best behaviour or face an angry Shawn and the possibility of things turning ugly.

Her new bedroom was white and if the sun was shining bright enough through the window, reflecting off of the walls, it could give her a headache sometimes.

The walls wouldn't be staying the bright white for much longer, though, because as soon as she was well enough to not need assistance to do tasks, Shawn had promised to take her down to the DIY store and pick up a several tins of wall paint, allowing her to use the four walls of the room to be her new canvas.

A sharp knock sounded from the door and Maya turned from her place in her very own bay window to look at the new comer, "Maya, dinner's ready. Are you coming today?"

That was another thing she had been doing, avoiding meals. It not like she was purposefully doing it. Wyatt had limited when she could eat food, opting to only give her one meal a day if she was lucky, although normally it would be once every two days if she had done something wrong in his eyes (which was fairly often even if she didn't do anything). He had claimed something along the lines of she was too 'fat' although her skin clung to her bones, making them prominent. Nobody really noticed it though because of her baggy clothing she drowned herself in. Maya had gotten to the point where she just didn't get hungry.

"No, not really that hungry," she muttered back to her mother, not bothering to look at the older woman, knowing the look that would be on her face. She heard a sigh followed by footsteps and the door shutting gently behind her as Katy left the room.

Feeling a wave of guilt, Maya silently stood and crept out into the hallway. The apartment was much like the Matthews' below theirs, but with a slightly different layout.

Making sure to keep herself hidden, she listened to the conversation between Shawn and her mother, "Not hungry again?" She could hear Shawn asking as the sounds of clattering cutlery began.

"No," her mother's choked response came and the guilt that was eating away at her grew a little. "I can't stand seeing her like this. She hasn't eaten properly in a week, what if something happens to her?"

There was a brief silence, only the shuffling of material before Maya heard the bench creak, "We'll give her a little more time. She did say that _he_ refused to give her too much food, you know that, Katy. She hasn't been able to eat that much over the years, her stomach is smaller now. If it gets too bad, though, we'll take her to the doctors and see what they can do for her. Just give it a week."

For some reason, curiosity got the better of her and Maya poked her head around the corner of the wall, gaining a view of both her mother and Shawn.

Shawn was sat next to her mother, his plate abandoned on the other side of the table, clearly showing that he had moved to go and comfort Katy. His arm was wound around her shoulders as the blonde was tucked under it, her head resting on his shoulder.

Maya quickly moved back out of sight, dashing down the corridor back into her room. Sitting down on her bed, and this time she subconsciously took her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it, thinking.

She could practically see the chemistry between Shawn and her mother, it was so obvious. Sure, they had that little thing going around the time if her fourteenth birthday that could have gone so far but then Wyatt just waltzed in their lives and tore everything to pieces. And the hope she had managed to allow herself to have was gone.

But now there she was, sat on her bed having just watched the spark seemingly reignite between the two.

Shawn wasn't a bad guy, no. It's just she didn't know how it would all play out in the long run, if they developed a romantic relationship, if things went further.

She wouldn't think about that now, she couldn't.

The window slid open, causing Maya to freeze and her head to snap in the direction of it. A foot entered, followed by a leg before the rest of a body tumbled through, landing in a heap on the floor.

Letting out a breath, Maya placed a hand on her chest, "Riley, it's just you."

The brunette in question stood and straightened herself out, brushing off a couple specks of dust that had clung to her purple dress, "That's not as easy as you make it look."

"Yeah, well, I've been doing it since we were seven, that's like your first time," Maya replied, her voice as steady as she could, get it. No emotion showing.

Riley studied the blonde girl in front of her who was drowning it the oversized grey sweatshirt. She still hadn't been comfortable around other people in the week she had been home from the hospital. She could tell that she wasn't fully settled into the new apartment and from the bags under her eyes, she could tell she wasn't sleeping.

"You haven't eaten today," It wasn't a question, but a statement that was confirmed true when Maya didn't reply. Sighing, she fished out a granola bar from her pocket and thrust it forward into her face, "Eat this."

Maya looked at the bar that was dangling inches away from her face, deciding if she should or not before turning her gaze to Riley. The taller girl had a determined look on her face, telling her that she wasn't leaving until Maya had eaten _at least_ all of the snack and maybe more if she was up to it.

Without a word, she reached forward and reluctantly took to package, tearing it carefully and taking a small bite. While chewing the granola, she watched as a satisfied look settled on to Riley's face and forced herself to continue eating.

* * *

 **It's Monday and I'm back from my holiday. I'm really hoping the alert for this chapter goes out because it's so annoying that I screwed it up. The formatting of this chapter might be all over the place because I wrote this on my iPad yesterday while waiting all day for my bus to the airport at the resort I stayed at and well I hate writing on anything other than my laptop. Anyway, enough of that (and just a final reminder that if you haven't read the actual version of** _ **Not Quite Right**_ **make sure you do, it's chapter 16), I have some news for you. During my holiday, I managed to pull several ideas together for one-shots and longer stories.** _ **The Apartment**_ **[au] and** _ **168 Hours.**_ **So basically, those are my long story ideas that I'll probably be writing after SOA finishes. I did have the summaries there too but I don't want anyone stealing my idea so I removed them, probably petty but better to be safe than sorry. For my one-shots, I have** _ **Smoke and Friar**_ **and** _ **Rileytown**_ **which I might develop into a short story, I don't know yet. I also have other ideas I'm not decided on yet but we'll see. For those asking about how long left, I'm going to say expect** _ **around**_ **30 chapters, but there may be more or less, depending on things. One more thing today, LOST IN DARKNESS, YOU'RE MY FOCUS, LOVE ME HOPELESS**


	20. Back to School Blues

**19\. Back to School Blues**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

The time came where it was time for Maya to go back to school, too. However, unlike the first time she came back to Abigail Adams High School, she had her friends there for her, watching her back.

When Maya walked through the front doors of the school that Monday, most heads began to turn to look at the blonde girl who had disappeared for several weeks again. Of course, most of them knew about the accident that had taken place involving the two (ex)-best friends, along with many other theories about what exactly happened that day. Riley, Lucas, Farkle and even Cory had been questioned several times about the event but all had kept the details to a bare minimum.

Riley was still hobbling around on her crutches, stumbling every now and then but that was just Riley being her clumsy self. She was due to go back to the hospital to have it checked out within the next week, and also find out if she would need therapy on it.

A few people whispered amongst themselves, shooting glances towards the four.

Of course, news about what Wyatt's arrest had travelled around as well – it was a high school, word travels fast – but also it was covered on the news. They hadn't given out specific details about the victims involved in the incident, but somehow, someone had managed to connect the dots and connect Maya to the incident.

Homeroom was a drag, a quick welcome back from her teacher, Miss Bowen and then the morning announcements that she couldn't really care enough to pay attention to. A club meet after school, football game next week – honestly she couldn't care too much about it all.

Thankfully, they were letting Maya do only half days for the first couple of weeks back, unlike Riley who had gotten only one half day. The school board had taken pity on her, although she really didn't want them to, and had offered to give her online classes for her last three classes of the day until she was ready to go back to attending full-time.

When the lunch bell rang, Maya hadn't ever been happier to hear it. Slowly, she dragged her feet through the hallways towards the blue locker that held all her stuff. Not paying too much attention to what was happening around her, she entered the combination and pulled the door open.

As if it was something from out of a movie, a small neatly folded piece of white lined paper drifted out of the small metal box and landed at Maya's feet. Carefully, she bent down to pick it up and opened it.

There, written in untidy, scrawled hand writing was a message that made her heart skip a beat, _I know everything._

Just as she began to process the message, however, a voice sounded from behind her, causing her to jump three feet in the air, "There you are." Followed by a laugh, "I didn't scare you that much, jeez Maya."

Turning slowly, she had to tilt her head upwards slightly to meet the familiar green eyes of Lucas. When she had fully turned towards him, his eyebrows folded together in concern, "Are you alright? You're pale – like you've seen a ghost or something."

"Uh, yeah," She replied hastily, scrunching up the note into the back pocket of her jeans out of sight. "You were looking for me?" It was an obvious change of subject but Lucas just went with it.

"They're looking for you down at the office," He told her. "I was on my way to the canteen and they asked if I knew where you were. Shawn's here to pick you up."

Maya then realised that she must have spent a fair time travelling to her locker and then reading the note that it had completely skipped her mind that Shawn was coming to get her. "Right, of course, Shawn. How could I forget about that?" She brushed him off and reached inside her locker to grab her bag, slipping it on her shoulder, "Thanks for getting me, Huckleberry. I gotta go." And with that, Lucas was left to watch the blonde walk down the empty hallway and disappear around the corner.

* * *

Riley was still off with the boys, even weeks later. She had been civil towards them but she had bigger and more important things to focus on rather such as Maya rather than what the secret they kept from her.

But now that Maya was back in school and slowly getting better, she needed to sort everything out with them. So she asked them to meet her at Topanga's that Thursday night.

"You asked to see us, Riles?" Farkle asked as he studied the brunette who was pushing ice cubes around her glass with a straw.

Glancing up briefly at the two boys, she sighed, "Yes, I did. It's been a couple of weeks now and it's still hanging in the air between us and I want it gone."

Both boys shared an equally confused look, "What do you mean?" Lucas asked.

"When Maya was in the hospital, you admitted that you went to her apartment and saw something," She clarified. "I want you to tell me about it."

"Are you sure?" The brunette nodded. "It had been about a week after Maya disappeared and you weren't in the best state, so we wanted to see if we could find anything in the Hart's apartment that would tell us what happened. When we got there, the door wasn't locked so we went inside. The place was completely destroyed, the picture frames broken into pieces and furniture trashed."

"On the kitchen floor there was this red spot and we went over to it to see what it was," Lucas took over. "It was a blood stain. I don't know how it got there – well now we do – or whose it was, you'll have to ask Maya that. But it was there, on the floor and it should have screamed out to us that something was horribly wrong, especially the way that Maya's stuff had been thrown around the room and the way that the picture of all of us was smashed but it didn't and I really wish it had now. We could have saved her."

In a fashion much like Lucas had done to Maya, they all heard Maya's voice from behind them, "You really couldn't have." Whipping around, behind the boys was Maya standing behind their booth, looking at them all, a pair of headphones that Shawn had bought her around her neck. With that, she adjusted the stack of books she had and made her way across the bakery over to the counter and settled on a bar stool, slipping the headphones back on.

No one said anything for a moment, thinking about what exactly she had said, realising her life had been worse than she had let on to any of them.

"I forgive you," Riley spoke up quietly and both boys looked at her. She continued, "For not telling me about what you saw, even if she didn't think we could have helped her, if we knew, we could have but it's in the past. We have Maya back now and we've got to focus on helping her get better and recover from this. Because as much as she tries to hide it, it's only a matter of time before she has a breakdown and completely loses it. So I forgive you."

* * *

 **I have to say, I'm disappointed. Only three people reviewed the previous chapter (thank you to those three who did). Honestly, the reviews have been dropping for the last couple of chapters. When you guys review, it lets me know I'm not wasting my time writing this, so if nobody gives me some feedback, I'm not gonna continue writing. I'm only doing this so that I can keep the book going for you. Trust me, I have other ideas I can write and just leave this abandoned here if it really comes to it. So _please_ make sure you let me know what you think of the chapter. In other news, I shall be uploading this story to Wattpad under the name _girlmeetswords_ so make sure you jump over there to follow it but I also am possibly starting up another story over there that won't be on here for a long time yet, so if you want to read that (if I even do it) then you can find it there. Alright, peace out guys!**


	21. Pulling Away

**20\. Pulling Away**

" _You don't get to disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Maya didn't want to pull away from everyone. She tried to stop it from happening, but it was out of her control.

A little nagging voice in the back of her head was telling her that her friends didn't want her. They were only taking pity on her, that they didn't couldn't care less if she was to disappear again.

And then there were the notes.

They didn't come often, maybe once a week, but every time she saw a small, folded up piece of paper, her heart would skip a beat and she would then read it. She had a small little wooden jewellery box hidden under her bed containing the slips of paper. She wouldn't let anyone see them, she couldn't.

Maya stopped going down the fire escape into Riley's bedroom window.

She stopped meeting up with the others at Topanga's when they had made plans, the voice picking up and telling her it was such a bad idea. They didn't want her there.

She threw herself into hr classes, blocking out everything around her apart from the teacher's voice, furiously scribbling down notes that she would go home and re-write later just so she would have an excuse not to go outside and talk to anybody.

It was concerning for everyone involved. There was clearly a lot more damage to the blonde than they had seen or could have imagined. To them, they had no reason to see why she was pulling away, but to Maya, she could see every reason she should pull away.

 _They'll leave you eventually._

Nobody was ever a stayer. You can say that'll you'll stay, but you do one thing that tips the balance and they're gone.

 _They are only doing this because they have to._

She had already caused Shawn to pay a fair amount of money for the hospital bill, even though he didn't have to but he had insisted over and over that he do it. _He had to do it._

 _You brought him upon yourself._

That wasn't a new thought if she was to be completely honest. She knew that she had let Wyatt do whatever he wanted. She should have fought back, but she was too weak to do it. She was trapped inside her mind.

Those were just a few of the notes that she had received since she was back in school, and yet she hadn't been able to figure out who it was. She didn't have a clue who it could have been.

* * *

Farkle entered through the bay window, having noticed the figure of someone sitting there. The room was silent as he watched Riley sitting there, curled up into a ball, staring off into space.

He wasn't even sure she was aware of his presence. "Riley?" He asked carefully and his heart wrenched a little at the sight of several tears slipping down the brunette's cheeks. "What's wrong?"

Quickly, she whipped furiously at her face, trying to hide the evidence. "Oh, hey, Farkle," She couldn't quite look him in the eyes, instead choosing to look past him and out the window.

"Riley…" He couldn't find the words to say, instead grabbing Riley's chin and forcing her to look at him. The second their eyes connected and he saw the pools of unshed tears sitting in her eyes, the dams broke.

The tears poured from her eyes as a strangled sob left her mouth. Yet as much as she wanted to turn away from Farkle, Riley couldn't do it, instead froze to look straight at him as she broke down.

Reacting quickly, Farkle pulled the girl into his arms and just let her sit there, sobbing her heart out for an unknown reason to him. He had never, _ever_ seen sweet, happy Riley Matthews drop to this state in his entire life. He had seen her break down in eight grade when she had been bullied for weeks without telling anyone but other than that, never. And the incident in eight grade didn't bring her to this state.

Farkle didn't know what to do, really. It was Maya that was could at calming the brunette down if she got to this stage – if she ever had without him knowing. Yet for some reason, he felt like this breakdown she was having was over the blonde best friend.

So he just sat there, stroking her hair as she placed all her weight on him, waiting for her to calm to a state where he could ask her what was wrong.

When that state finally came, after a lot of sobs and coughing/heaving on Riley's behalf, he asked slowly, "What's the matter?"

"I-I don-n't know-w what t-to d-do," She admitted, her voice cracking and a few sobs mixed in.

He couldn't see the girls face, as she was still pressed up against him, "About what?"

"M-Maya," So his guess was right, it was the blonde. "S-she's breaking I-I can see-e it, but I d-don't know how t-to help-p."

He held the girl just a little bit tighter, knowing what she was talking about. Anyone could see the inevitable breakdown coming, but no one knew how to stop it or to even help her. There was no way they could tell how bad it was going to be, and every day waiting for it to come.

"We just have to wait for the storm, Riles, and help her find her way through it," Was all he said.

* * *

She had snuck out the window and began to climb down the fire escape, dashing past Riley's window, briefly catching a glance in to see two people sat in the window, but assumed it was one of the boys and continued. Venturing her way through the streets, she came across the park that she always came to when she needed time to think.

The swings had always been her favourite thing, she didn't know why, they just were. Even after that time that the chain had snapped while she was in the air and she plummeted to the floor where she ended up laughing at herself for a good ten minutes before realising that she was actually bleeding.

But that incident had given her an idea to launch herself off the seat as she was in the air and seeing how far out she could land. It had ended in several twisted limbs and scrapes but she would shake it off and do it again and again.

She remembered the first time she had done it with the Matthews present. She had been friends with Riley for a few months and they had recently had their new baby, August – Auggie for short. They had decided to take Riley to the playground for a couple hours, which ended up with Maya tagging along.

When she and Riley had finished their sandwiches, they dashed towards the swing set, Maya shouting a gleeful, "Watch this!" once she was high enough in the air and threw her body forwards through the air, landing in a heap in the sand at the bottom.

She had heard Cory yell across the playground and glanced up to see both him and Topanga looking horrified that she had just done that before bursting into laughter. That was the first time she had put ears on the Matthews.

Now, she didn't have the energy to do such a thing. She was also almost positive that if she tried to do such a thing, she would break a bone or something. So instead she just sat on the swings, pushing her legs back and forth slightly.

Maya sat there for a good hour, just watching as the sun began to fade away and the dark sky setting in. She knew that they had probably seen her absence at that point and stopped the swing, deciding that it was best to go back before things blew out of hand.

* * *

 **Thank you all so much for the last chapter! I'm sorry if I seemed, I don't know, rude or something. But I'm glad that you guys enjoy this story! I think I'm slowly coming to an end on this, I don't want to drag it out too much because then it gets boring and I tend to lose consistency with my plot but on the other hand, I don't want it to end. We'll just have to see how it goes from here, but remember I did say, expect around thirty chapters currently. I may go on a binge write and try to finish this story by the time I go to enrol in college (which is August 25** **th** **) but** _ **'finish'**_ **the story means finish writing it up, not necessarily finish posting it, I'll try to do that by my birthday. Anyway, enough of this, make sure you let me know what you think of this chapter in the reviews section, I read everything you guys leave there and take it into consideration.**


	22. Drowning

**21\. Drowning**

" _You don't just get to disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Hiding was never an option.

He would always find her.

Her door was shut tight and she was sitting in the bottom of her walk-in closet, curled into a ball, trying as hard as she could to both get away from any more pain and to not aggravate her injuries even further.

The silence was cut in half by the door being flung open and smashing against the wall. He was in the room.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are," She could hear him chanting as he searched the room for her, his voice slurred from his alcohol intake form that morning.

"I know you're in here Maya, come out now and it will be better on you."

She had to options, pray that in his drunken mind that he wouldn't be smart enough to come and open the closet door and expose her behind the few clothes she had, maybe he would just walk away and look somewhere else. But if he came and found her there, she would be in for it.

The second option consisted of surrendering herself now and taking the punishment he had on hand. It would be bad, but not as bad as the first option.

Before she even had a chance to make up her mind, the closet door was ripped open and there stood Wyatt in the doorway, looking down on her fragile body with menacing eyes, "There you are."

His hands reached down to grab her and pull her out of the closet-

* * *

A muffled knocking broke through and upon opening her eyes, Maya realised that she was underwater.

Sitting up quickly, she gasped for breath for a few seconds as another knock echoed, "Maya? Are you okay?"

Through staggered breaths, the blonde replied, "I'm okay," As she climbed out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around herself.

"Are you sure? You've been in there for forty minutes and you took ages to reply to me," Katy asked again, genuine concern laced throughout her tone.

Wiping down the mirror of the steam from the bath, Maya looked at her reflection, "Yes, I'm sure, Mom. I'll be out in a few minutes" Her reply was distant as she stared into the red-rimmed eyes of the girl looking back at her – and when had she been crying.

School had been stressful. For some reason, the notes were getting to her more and more each day, giving her anxiety that someone out there knew every detail of what had happened to her over the last two years and could spill it at any second.

And then, for some reason, it felt like everyone was looking at her where ever she went that day. In the hallways, in the classroom even on the street, it always felt like someone was watching her even if there was no one there to do so.

It didn't help that she hadn't been able sleep properly. Her 'dreams' were plagued with flashbacks of her past that had begun to slip into her day life too, causing her to zone out on people and be pulled into herself.

The dark circles under her eyes were becoming more and more obvious as the days past and it was a matter of time before she ran out of concealer or somebody saw them.

* * *

That day, history was last period. Maya was sat in her regular seat, right behind Riley. Although her pen was in her hand and was moving across the page, didn't exactly mean that she was taking notes.

Filling the lines of the book were doodles and squiggles, not meaning anything in particular but it kept up the illusion that she was alright.

Riley kept turning in her seat every now and then, her dark eyes scanning her pale face for any sign of, well, anything. And each time she came to nothing.

Finally, after about the fourteenth time of doing so, Maya had had enough. Quickly, she threw her hand up and interrupted Cory, "Can I go to the bathroom?"

Cory could sense something off in the blonde so allowed her to do so, telling her that she was to return within ten minutes, no more.

Dashing out of her seat quickly, she made it outside the classroom before taking off towards the toilet. Once she was inside the dirty white room, she stood in front of the filth covered mirror and looked at her reflection.

For a moment, she just stared at herself, taking in what she had become and couldn't see anything of what she was there.

There was no happy girl underneath it all.

There was just the broken little girl she had remembered seeing after her father had left when she was five years old.

Even she knew she was at breaking point.

Maya turned on the faucet and let the water pour for a moment, just watching it before cupping her hands and putting them under the water. After that, she splashed herself in the face a few times – for whatever reason she didn't know.

She wiped her face with her sleeve and turned to walk back out the toilets. Once she was back in class and on her way to her seat, Maya bumped into a desk in the front row.

She turned to apologise to the person in the seat when she noticed a piece of paper on the floor with her name written as clear as day on the front of it. "What's this?" She asked, bending down to pick up the object.

The white piece of paper was oddly familiar along with the way her name was written, and in her mind, everything was beginning to click into place. Opening it up, she read over the note, her face becoming blank as she just stared at the words.

The rest of the class had stopped at that point, wanting to know what the commotion was. Cory asked from across the classroom, "Everything okay, Ms Hart?"

When she came back to reality, she stared at the pale-faced none other than Missy Bradford. For a moment, she did nothing, before she finally cracked, "You."

* * *

 **Oh look at that, an okay chapter at that but I feel like I needed to do it. And yes, a cliffy but hey, gotta add more suspense into this book because I am just one evil little bean, aren't I? I have a new one-shot out, _Forgiveness_ which I'm not too sure I'm going to keep up but that depends on the feedback I get, so make sure you give it some love! You guys are the best readers ever! I love you guys, thank you! (PS after this chapter we should have 250 reviews and that is completely nuts!) **


	23. Stormy Days

**22\. Stormy Days**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

"You."

There was no time wasted from that moment as Maya pounced on the table, grabbing the brunette by the collar and hoisting her up to her face.

"You've been sending me the notes the whole time!" She screamed at Missy who was looking completely horrified. "You have been putting me through hell for weeks and I can't believe I didn't put it together that it was you! I should have known from the beginning! You're a low-life piece of scum, Missy."

At that point, she had raised her arm above her head, ready to strike Missy when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and forcefully dragged her backwards, causing her to release the brunette.

Maya kicked and screamed at whoever was holding her back to let her go, but the person held on as tight as they humanly could to stop her escaping.

She could tell that she was being dragged outside of the classroom, away from everyone as she could faintly see the shocked and horrified faces of the others through the tears blurring her vision along with her blonde hair whipping back and forth in front of her eyes.

Once they were far enough away from the classroom that Maya no longer posed a threat to Missy, the person holding her placed her back onto her feet and released her. She turned quickly to see Lucas standing behind her, arms ready to catch her if she tried to make a run for it.

At this point, she had begun full-blown sobbing, her face crumbling with each passing second before she dropped to the floor and curled into a little ball. Her breathing was staggered and it took him a few minutes to realise that she had begun to have a panic attack.

The moment he realised this, he dropped to the floor next to her, trying to help her calm down and breathing normally again.

After who knows how long of coaching, Maya's breaths began to calm down a little, but it didn't stop the stream of tears plastering her cheeks as she was finally breaking.

He knew he had to ask what had caused her to lose it so violently and to almost _attack_ Missy, but he didn't know what would happen if he did ask and Lucas certainly didn't want to set her off again.

So instead, he sat on the floor next to the blonde, letting her cry out her pain, occasionally letting out a little sob or a hiccup and waited for her to speak to him.

It had been quiet for a while when Riley appeared around the corner, looking panicked and concerned. When she saw her two best friends on the floor, Maya's head on his shoulder with her hair curtaining her face a little, she paused as relief took over.

"There you two are," Riley said quietly, moving towards the two. "My dad sent Farkle and I after you when you didn't come back after thirty minutes. He had to call the principle."

Lucas just blinked up at the girl, knowing that it would have been done, "So what's happening now? What does he want to do with Maya?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good," Riley replied, chewing on her fingernail. "She tried to attack another student, Lucas. You've been through this before."

Ignoring Riley's last comment, he shifted a little, causing Maya's head, which was still on his shoulder to fall a little, indicating that she was asleep, "Look, I'll wake her up and bring her down to the office, you just tell them we're coming."

Riley nodded and made her way back down the corridor, shooting one more glance over her shoulder as she turned the corner. Lucas tried to quietly wake the blonde, but she was having none of it, so he was instead forced to hoist her up and make her walk.

* * *

By the time they had made it to the office, Maya was a lot more alert and aware of the situation.

The principle, Mr Purchase, and Missy were both sat in their respective seats when they had been allowed to enter, Missy still looking a little pale from the whole ordeal.

Seeing Lucas behind Maya, the principle looked to him and said, "Mr Friar, you are not needed her, please return to class." His tone was warning and Lucas knew better than to argue with him so he just nodded and left quietly. "Have a seat, Ms Hart."

"Now, I've talked to Ms Bradford and several other people involved in the incident. Now I want to hear your side of the story," He asked her as he folded his hands in front of him and sat back in his chair.

And so Maya finally told of the notes that she had been receiving over the last several weeks, how she had no idea who they were from, and that when she found out who it was, she finally cracked.

Once she was done explaining, the man didn't reply immediately, just writing down a few notes before looking up at the two girls. "Ms Hart," He started. "I've seen the note from today so I am to believe what you say is true. However, we do not tolerate students attacking others. Therefore, I am going to have to suspend you for the rest of the week. You may go and collect your things, Mr Matthews is waiting for you in his classroom as it is after school hours."

He then turned towards Missy, "You, Ms Bradford, I am going to have to ask to stay behind a little longer. We need to discuss a few things."

When she returned to the history classroom, she found it empty apart from Cory, who was sat behind his desk. As soon as he heard Maya enter, he looked up and saw the expression on her face, opening his arms for her to hug him, which she did.

They were finally seeing the deep cracks.

* * *

Cory entered the apartment, Maya trailing behind him quietly.

Riley and Topanga were both sat on the couch, waiting for them to enter. Upon only seeing Cory, Riley asked, "Where is she?"

Stepping aside, he revealed Maya stood behind him. The moment she made eye contact with both Topanga and Riley, she dashed forward and hugged the pair of them, causing them to fall back onto the couch where she began to sob for the second time that day.

* * *

 **I feel like I make my character's cry way too much, but what do you think of that? Guys, I have so many plot bunnies in my head right now, I have three stories I want to write (and a plot line I just came up with) that I'm itching to write but I want to finish this story. To be honest, I'm running out of plot ideas so this story looks like it's coming to a close *cri*. I'm curious, how many of you would be willing to read my other stories that I plan to write? Alright, I may or may not go and write the next chapter now, I'm not sure. Actually, I think I'm going to fix mistakes in previous chapters. Peace out people! (I don't even know why I keep saying that at the end of my chapters lol)**


	24. Help

**23\. Help**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

By the time Shawn and Katy had gotten back to the Matthews' apartment from their respective jobs later that evening, both Riley and Maya were fast asleep, Maya leaning against Topanga and Riley leaning on the blonde.

While both Cory and Shawn moved the girls to Riley's room, Topanga moved to the kitchen to make a couple cups of coffee for the rest of them. Few words had been said since the two arrived and as they sat around the kitchen table, not speaking still, Katy was the one to ask what happened.

"I don't know," Cory explained, glancing between the three of them. "She went out to the bathroom and came back. She must have knocked into Missy's desk and knocked off a piece of paper. When she went to pick it up, she read it and then snapped at Missy. Lucas grabbed her just before she could punch her."

"But what caused her to crack?" Topanga asked. "The paper obviously said something that got to her, but what was it?"

Nobody had an answer for that, leaving them all thinking the same thing. What none of them saw was the blonde girl standing in the doorway, watching them carefully and listening to their conversation.

"Maybe it had something to do with what's been going on lately? Did you see what it said Core?" Shawn asked, looking towards his life-long best friend.

Cory avoided eye contact, giving the answer they needed, "What did it say?"

"Something about telling what happened," He admitted. "But how would Missy know? I know Maya wouldn't tell her and neither would anyone else."

"We'll have to look into it further some other time, but right now, we have a bigger issue at hand," Katy stepped into the conversation one more. "Maya needs help. We can't let her keep going on like this. It's damaging her more."

"You mean a therapist?" Shawn asked although it was more of a statement.

"We don't have much more of a choice, Shawn. You see how she's pulling away from everyone, how she won't talk to anyone. She needs this help. I mean, I'm going to have to probably take on another job to pay for it, but she needs it."

"No," Shawn's reply was firm. "You're not taking on another job. Katy, you already do so much as it is. If you did this, you'd exhaust yourself. Let me help pay for it."

Maya didn't stick around to hear any more of the conversation as she turned and crept back down the hall to Riley's room where she ever so carefully opened the window, climbing outside and left the window open.

Climbing the fire escape, Maya made her way into her own bay window above Riley's room. Laying on the floor, she reached under her bed to grab her jewellery box before climbing back up onto the bed. Opening the box, she dumped the contents onto the bed, watching as the papers fell onto the soft covers. She picked up the first piece she could get her hands on, reading it and taking in what it said before dumping it back into the box. Maya repeated this over and over for each note. She surprisingly kept herself together as she read each note.

Once she was done, Maya sat there for a moment, thinking. She had to know why Missy had wanted to torment her so much. She knew Missy was cold hearted, but surely she couldn't be that mean.

It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.

* * *

The four adults were still sat around the kitchen table, their mugs long empty, trying to find the best person to help Maya when Riley burst into the room, her face a few shades paler than normal.

"What is it, Riley?" Topanga asked as she rose and stood in front of her seventeen-year-old daughter, hands on her shoulders.

"Maya – where is she?" Her voice was frantic as she watched the confused expressions on the four's faces.

From the table, Katy replied, "She's with you?" But it was more of a question.

"No, no she's not. I was half awake when you moved us into my room and I know you put Maya with me, when I woke up the window was open and she was gone," The teen watched as the gears began to turn in her mother's head.

"Well, did you check her room upstairs? She might be up there," Topanga suggested but Riley shook her head. "No, she's not up there either. That's the first place I checked. But her window was unlocked, a wooden box on her bed."

Riley presented the wooden box she had held in her hand, "You should look what's inside there, too."

* * *

Maya shuffled uncomfortably from foot to foot as she stood outside the door of the rather large apartment. The idea was such a long shot and she knew that Missy was probably going to kill her for listening in on one of her conversations but she needed to know.

The door opened to reveal none other than Missy herself, who's eyebrows raised at the sight of the short blonde in front of her, "Maya, what are you doing here?"

The blonde was taken back for a moment, not used to this attitude from Missy. Normally, she was stuck up and snobby but right now, she just seemed tired.

"Why?" Was the only thing she said, causing Missy to step aside and gesture for her to come in, which Maya complied with, although a little hesitant at first.

Silently, she followed Missy through the rooms of the large apartment, full of which looked to be expensive items and into her bedroom. "Have a seat," she offered as she sat on the edge of the bed.

It took a moment, but Missy was the first to speak, "I did it because I felt like I needed to."

"But why? And how did you know what's happened? They made sure that names apart from _his_ was mentioned on the news," Maya asked, genuinely confused.

"I know what you've been through, Maya, I went through it too," Missy explained. "His name is Wyatt Peters, he was your mom's boyfriend for two years and he beat you almost the whole time."

"How – how do you know that?"

"Because at one point, he was my stepfather."

* * *

 **Hey, look at that, another cliffhanger. And now I bring (very) bad news. There is only about three chapters left of this, maybe four if I can squeeze it out of me (so it'll end at about twenty-six/twenty-seven chapters). I know you guys don't want this to come to an end, but I don't think I can keep dragging it out much more and sometimes it best to put a stop to something before it becomes boring, you get me? Don't worry though, I am planning on releasing a new story pretty soon after this is complete, I'm not sure if it'll be** _ **Rileytown**_ **or** _ **168 hours**_ **yet. Maybe both? I think I'm planning them to be short stories at this point. I also have** _ **The Apartment**_ **I want to write. I have so many ideas the only thing stopping me is time haha. Anyway, I have an end goal for this story and that is** _ **300 reviews**_ **by when the final chapter is published. Do you think I could do that? If you guys do, I would be so ecstatic you are the best readers ever! Adios amigos!**


	25. Truth and Therapy

**24\. Truth and Therapy**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and then come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

"He was your what?" Maya asked, blankly staring at the girl in front of her. Was she being serious or making this all up?

"He was my stepfather," Missy repeated, this time a little more forcefully. "I was only young at the time, seven or eight, but he was there and I remember him vividly. He would also hit us if we did something wrong or just if he was bored. My mother tried her hardest to stop him, but it would never work."

The blonde watched as Missy refused to look into her eyes and did everything to avoid eye contact. This girl in front of her, the one that had been horrible to the whole grade ever since she moved to New York seven years ago had suffered the same way she had.

"How – how did you get away?" She whispered softly, part of her hoping that it was too quiet for Missy to hear.

Unfortunately, she did, "My mother had had enough one day and filed for a divorce. Luckily Wyatt was completely drunk most of the time so he didn't really know what he was doing. She made up some bogus lie to get him to sign it and within a week we were out of there and on our way to New York to start a new life."

* * *

"Why would she keep something like this from us?" Riley asked as her parents, Katy and Shawn examined the notes on the table in front of them.

Topanga, who had been reading over one of the longer notes, paused and turned slightly, "It's Maya, she always wanted to only show us her strong side."

"But still," Shawn piped up this time. "She should have come to us, this is serious."

"So this is what caused her to snap?" Katy asked, refusing to look up from the table. "I should have noticed that something was wrong with her, but I didn't. What kind of mother am I?"

"One that's been through a lot," Shawn put his hand on the blonde's shoulder, causing Topanga and Cory to share a knowing look.

* * *

The two had lapsed into a silence, not knowing what to talk about at that point when Maya suddenly remembered something.

"Missy," She spoke suddenly, causing the brunette to jump a little. "I have an idea that will be effective for us both."

"What is it?" Missy asked, raising her eyebrow a little.

Taking a breath, Maya began, "There's a trail coming up, in a couple of weeks. Against Wyatt. There is so much evidence pointing towards him being guilty that there is practically no chance of him getting away with what he's done. But if you come and spoke against him, he might get longer."

She could see the hesitance in the girl's eyes and she didn't blame her. If Missy had been through anything like she had, and then someone came along years later after she had just managed to get over it and relive those memories, she would be hesitant too.

"I'm not going to force you to do it, Missy, but please consider it? We need this man locked up off the streets away from all of us. So he can't hurt us again," Seeing that she may be pushing too far, she stood up. "I'll let you think about it, let me know what you decide to do. I won't blame you for not wanting to say anything," Maya added before walking towards to door.

Just as her hand touched the doorknob, Missy called her back, "I'll do it."

* * *

Zipping up his coat, Shawn turned to look at Cory who was doing the same thing, "I'll take the east, you take the west and we'll meet back up here in an hour?" He suggested to which his life-long best friend nodded his head.

They had given Maya some time to come back on her own, but she still hadn't done so. It had been an hour since Riley had woken up and announced Maya was missing, and the two were about to head out to look for the missing teen.

Just as Cory's hand was about to touch the door handle, the blonde appeared in the doorway to the hall, "Oh here you all are."

"Maya!" Riley shouted, jumping over the back of the couch and tackling Maya to the ground, where she groaned from the impact.

"Okay, honey, let Maya up," Topanga instructed her daughter from where she and Katy were sat on the sofa.

As Maya was brushing herself down and the men were taking off their jackets, Katy asked, "Where have you been, baby girl?"

"I was at Missy's-" Maya began to explain but Riley cut her off, "Missy's? Oh, Maya, you didn't…"

"No, I didn't," The blonde replied forcefully before continuing. "She's willing to help us with the trail."

"What do you mean?"

* * *

This day had been coming for about a week now, and yet Maya was still not ready for it.

She tried to fight her way out of it, but she knew that in the end, she would be thankful that people had cared enough to force her to go.

But that didn't mean she would admit it.

So as she sat in the waiting room chair with Riley next to her, tapping her foot in nerves, Maya couldn't wait to get in just so she could get back out just as quickly.

Once she was called in (and she had to force Riley to stay outside the room) and settled in the chair, she looked at the dark-haired woman in front of her. She wasn't exactly young, but she wasn't too old either.

"I'm Dr Elizabeth Fisher and I'm going to be your therapist while you come here," She explained and Maya just nodded. "Now, your… father? Mr Shawn Hunter provided me with some background information on the situation," Elizabeth read from the notes in front of her and the blonde didn't bother to correct the father thing.

"I want you to feel comfortable enough here to speak to me about what you're feeling. It's not healthy to lock up your emotions and it will benefit you in the long run if you do so," She could tell what Elizabeth was trying to do, but Maya was never one to show emotion or open up to people about how she was feeling.

This was going to take a lot of work.

* * *

 **This chapter is so all over the place. I couldn't find it in me to write today, but I squeezed this chapter out of me for you guys, I hope it was tolerable for you. I haven't updated in five days, uh oops? But seriously, sorry guys. In other news, the next chapter is going to be the last (apart from an epilogue I may possibly more than likely will write), that's kind of sad. But I want you to prepare yourselves for the upcoming story –** _ **168 Hours**_ **. I'll be releasing the first chapter of that maybe the day after if not the day of the next chapter, so make sure you're ready for that one! Thank you all for your reviews and we're so close to 300 at this point :P Peace out, my wonderful darling readers (that was creepy, ngl)**


	26. Epilouge

**25\. Epilogue**

" _You don't get to just disappear for two years and come back expecting everything to be the way it was. So tell me, Maya, where were you?"_

* * *

Wyatt was charged as guilty on two accounts of abuse and was sentenced to however many years he was given – the day was too much of a blur for Maya to take in anything.

Although it took a while to crack her, Elizabeth finally managed to get her to crack and talk about how she was feeling deep down. But if there was one thing Maya was thankful for, was her true feelings about the situation.

 _The whole way home, she hadn't really been with it. She was going back and forth to the appointments on her own, so she didn't have anyone pestering her about what was wrong._

 _She knew her mother was at Topanga's but she needed to talk to her before she lost the little confidence she had. So as she entered the bakery, she ignored anyone else around her once she noticed the blonde woman behind the counter._

 _Approaching her, she placed both hands on the counter, leaning forward slightly, "Mom, can we talk?"_

 _Katy turned to look at her daughter, noticing the look on her face before placing the rag in her hand down, "Sure, what is it?"_

 _Maya quickly checked either side of her, to make sure there was no one there before continuing, "Dr. Elizabeth made me realise something today." At the pointed look from Katy, she continued, "I'm angry at you."_

 _She didn't say anything as she watched her mother not know how to react to watch she had just said. Katy was about to say something but Maya cut in over her, "I think I'm angry at you because you let that man into our lives."_

" _But I know you didn't know that he was going to turn out like that. You didn't know he was an alcoholic and abusive. And then it got too far deep for us to get out of it so we had to stick it out. For two years, my life was a living hell and all I wanted to do was get out of it. I never thought that we would be able to, but we did and we're here and we're alive."_

" _I mean look at us now, we're back in New York, we're back with the ones who care most about us and there's a guy that really loves you and cares for you and cares for me. Because if he didn't, he wouldn't have done everything he has for us."_

 _She paused for a moment, scanning her mother's face for a reaction before finally ending on, "So I was angry at you. But I'm not anymore. Because we've got to stick together."_

 _Coming around the counter, Katy wrapped her arms around her daughter's shoulder, holding her closely to her._

* * *

There was good days and bad days, because nothing really goes away forever, but for once in Maya Penelope Hart's life, things were going well. And maybe one day she could look back on the past and see how far she had come from the worst years of her life.

* * *

 **This was such a disappointing ending, honestly, I'm so sorry. I tried to write something 100x better but I couldn't pull it out of me. I think it's because I've never wrote anything over twenty chapters before and I was forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel to give you this crappy epilogue. I know I said one more chapter and then an epilogue but I couldn't physically write it and I am so, so, so sorry :( Uh, yeah, so I don't expect any reviews on this at all tbh, haha. But in the unlikely case we hit 300 reviews, thank you so much, but for whatever amount we hit, THANK YOU GUYS SO SO MUCH FOR USING YOUR PRECIOUS TIME TO READ THIS STORY AND FAVOURITE, FOLLOW AND REVIEW IT! I WOULDN'T BE HERE WITHOUT YOU GUYS!**

 **Alright, now onto my next story;**

 _ **One Hundred and Sixty-Eight Hours – It took five minutes for her to disappear and a hundred and sixty-eight hours to bring her back. But what happened in those crucial seven days?**_

 **Oh yeah, that's the summary and I'll hopefully have the first chapter up within 24 hours, fingers crossed. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that one. And for one final time, peace out guys, see you next time xo**


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